Russia to process Belarusian spent nuclear fuel, Belarus to store resulting radioactive waste

MINSK, 29 June (BelTA) – Spent nuclear fuel generated by the Belarusian nuclear power plant will be transported to Russia for processing and the resulting nuclear waste will go back to Belarus, BelTA learned from Nadezhda Zdanevich, Head of the Nuclear Power Plant Technical Support Office of the Belarusian national energy company Belenergo.

According to Nadezhda Zdanevich, after studies and evaluations were done, Belarus opted for having spent nuclear fuel processed in Russia and for taking back the resulting waste, which is embedded in glasslike matrix and contains radionuclides of the cesium and strontium fraction without long-lived radionuclides.

In her words, this approach underlies the Belarusian-Russian intergovernmental agreement on managing nuclear fuel. Active work is now in progress to implement provisions of the document. A Council of Ministers resolution has been drafted to identify organizations, which are authorized to handle the radioactive waste that Belarus will get from Russia as a result of processing of the Belarusian nuclear power plant's spent nuclear fuel. A procedure has been worked out for the Energy Ministry to make decisions on moving spent nuclear fuel to Russia for processing.

In furtherance of these efforts work is in progress at the Belarusian nuclear power plant to provide calculations and experimental validation of the crucial decisions, which are included in the radioactive waste management strategy with regard to the return of processed waste to Belarus. Three out of ten stages have been completed. This work is supposed to be fully completed by December 2024.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant uses the Russian design AES-2006 featuring two VVER-1200 reactors with the total output capacity of 2,400MW. It is an evolutionary nuclear power plant design with third-generation water-moderated reactors. Such designs boast improved technical and economic parameters. A unique combination of active and passive safeguards is their key feature.