The 22nd batch of used nuclear fuel has been removed from the storage area in Andreeva (Murmansk area). “Today, the storage facility in Andreeva Bay is the last facility containing a dangerous nuclear legacy from the Navy on the coast of the Kola Bay,” said Vasily Tinin, Rosatom’s Director of State Policy in the field of Radioactive Waste, Used Nuclear Fuel & Decommissioning of Nuclear & Radiation-Hazardous Facilities.
“Initially, there were more than 100 sets of reactor cores here, which is almost 20,000 fuel assemblies. To date, about 14,000 assemblies have already been removed. The project is very complicated, because our specialists have to work with a large number of damaged assemblies, and each type of damage requires an individual approach – different technical solutions. But we have already gained a lot of experience in such technical operations. Therefore, the work is proceeding at a good pace. We plan to fully complete the removal of used fuel from Andreeva Bay by the beginning of the next decade. The fuel is sent to the Mayak production association, where the assemblies will be completely recycled.”
Vyacheslav Fetisov, Chairman of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation, Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Environment Programme in Russia, State Duma Deputy, and Deputy Chairman of Rosatom’s Public Council, noted: “Systematic work to eliminate potentially dangerous facilities in the Arctic shows that our country, regardless of the international situation, remains committed to environmental protection. Modern nuclear technologies are indispensable for reliable, uninterrupted generation of environmentally friendly energy and ship traffic. But the most important task is to eliminate the “tailings” of the technology, especially used nuclear fuel. It is important that Rosatom conducts this work systematically, and the problem will be solved in the foreseeable future.”
Andreeva Bay is a part of the Western Face of the Motovsky Bay fjord in the Barents Sea, 55 km from Murmansk. Previously, the 569th coastal technical base of the Navy was located there. In 1961, the used fuel storage facility was put into operation on its territory. Since 2017, the base has been exporting the used nuclear fuel and gradually eliminating hazardous facilities at its site.
To date, 204 nuclear submarines have been disposed of in Russia. All used nuclear fuel has been exported from the Far East. The volume of used fuel in Murmansk has been more than halved. In 2024, the export of all accumulated used fuel was completed from the former coastal base of the Navy in the village of Gremikha. Under two federal targeted programmes Ensuring nuclear and radiation safety (FCP NRS) Rosatom is also dismantling old radiation hazardous industries and facilities with the participation of more than 220 nuclear industry enterprises from more than 30 regions. The implementation of the programmes has seen the removal of about 100 objects, and the rehabilitation of more than 3m square metres of contaminated territories in 23 regions of Russia.
