 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
2/6/12 |
 |
||||||||
|
 |
Home / Projects & Publications / News |
|
||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
RANSAC Nuclear News, April 23, 2003 Compiled By: Lauren Arestie A. Multilateral Threat Reduction
 A. Multilateral Threat Reduction 1. Kazakh Parliament Approves Ratification Of Nuclear Safety Accord With EU ASTANA - A plenary meeting of the Senate, [the upper house of the Kazakh parliament] approved a bill on ratifying the nuclear safety agreement between Kazakhstan and the European Atomic Energy Community [EAEC] on Thursday. "The aforementioned agreement was written up to ensure cooperation between the Republic of Kazakhstan and EU members in efforts to strengthen nuclear and radiation safety. Furthermore, they will work together to develop and apply scientifically-founded safety regulations recognized by the international community," says a Senate note on the bill. The bill says that ratifying the agreement will help Kazakhstan expand its scientific and technical relations and obtain technical assistance for projects to decommission, deactivate and dismantle nuclear facilities. The politicians who drafted the bill said that assistance might be given to help finance the decommissioning of the BN-350 industrial reactor (a fast neutron reactor at the Mangyshlak nuclear complex in west Russia) and possible design and construction of a nuclear power plant. The agreement was signed in Brussels on July 19, 1999, at the first session of the Kazakhstan-EU Cooperation Council. The bill was submitted to the chief of state for signing in line with legal procedures. Return to Menu 2. Italy Expands Aid to Weapons Destruction Effort Russia and Italy yesterday signed an additional protocol to their agreement on the destruction of Russia's chemical weapons stockpiles. Under the new protocol, Italy will assist in the construction of a gas pipeline to provide energy to a chemical weapons disposal facility near the Russian city of Shchuchye that is currently under construction. Return to Menu B. Russia-Iran 1. Nuke Deal With Iran To Be Signed Soon MOSCOW - An agreement on returning spent nuclear fuel from the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran to Russia will be signed in the near future, Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev declared at a news conference today. According to him, the uranium fuel will be supplied to Iran on the basis of the already signed contract. As reported earlier, the nuclear facility in Bushehr is to be put into operation in 2004. At present Russia is also constructing nuclear power plants in China and India and it has submitted an application to participate in the tender on constructing a nuclear power plant in Finland. Return to Menu 2. Official: Russia To Supply Nuclear Fuel To Iran MOSCOW - Russia plans to supply nuclear fuel for the power plant currently under construction in Bushehr, Iran, and to take the irradiated fuel back for recycling, Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev told a news conference at Itar-Tass headquarters Tuesday, Itar-Tass reported. Documents pertaining to those exports will be finalized shortly, he said, adding that the supplies would begin after completion of the plant and finalization of export agreements. "Russia and Iran have agreed on a return of irradiated fuel to this country, and we plan to sign an agreement with Iranians to that effect shortly," Rumyantsev said, Tass reported. "Authorities in both countries are preparing special notes on the issue," he said. "They will be exchanged by diplomatic channels". "The Iranians believe - and we support them on it - that the fact they buy the fuel from Russia means it becomes Iranian property, and Russia will have to pay for the irradiated fuel," Rumyantsev said. "We'll make special provisions on it in the purchase agreements." He said at the same time that Russian experts wanted more detailed information on Iran`s fuel cycle and admitted the full picture of it was unclear at the moment, Tass reported. Rumyantsev noted a report in Time magazine that the Iranians had build a pilot cascade of 150 to 200 centrifuges as well as premises for several thousand such centrifuges at one of its nuclear facilities. "If true, those centrifuges may help enrich uranium to weapons-grade conditions, in which case the situation cannot but cause concern," he said, Tass reported. "This calls for guarantees on the part of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Iran will have to report on its activity and provide opportunities for (international) control," Rumyantsev said. He also noted media reports that Iran was using technologies of a certain U.S.-based company. "On one hand, the U.S. is criticizing Iran and Russia for cooperation at a nuclear plant project, but on the other, a U.S. company is helping Iranians build a powerful uranium-enrichment facility," Rumyantsev noted, according to Itar-Tass. Return to Menu C. Russia-North Korea 1. Russia Says Korean Standoff A Step From Disaster Russia's top North Korea expert says the Korean peninsula remained on the brink of disaster as talks between Washington and Pyongyang on resolving a nuclear arms standoff opened in China. "It is probable that as early as tomorrow events may take a disastrous course," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov as saying in Tokyo after meeting Japanese officials. Losyukov, Russia's key expert on North Korea, was quoted as saying he regretted that the row over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions had been "pushed to the limit". Losyukov met reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il for several hours of talks in January after the United States accused Pyongyang of secretly pressing ahead with its nuclear program. US and North Korean negotiators began talks in Beijing earlier on Wednesday aimed at trying to end the row. Losyukov has welcomed the talks and said Russia, which has good relations with both North and South Korea and shares a tiny border with the North, could join the negotiation process at a later stage, if invited. The Korean peninsula remains the Cold War's last flashpoint and reclusive North Korea, which talks regularly about war being imminent, fears it could be the next target after the quick US military campaign in Iraq. Return to Menu 2. Russia Warns Against Overestimating Success Of Beijing Talks On North Korea's Nuclear Ambitions TOKYO - Russia believes the United Nations should step up its inspection effort in North Korea in the future and make sure the country's nuclear program is not aimed at weapons production. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Losyukov said this following Japanese-Russian diplomatic discussions in Tokyo on Wednesday. Russia has been working to reactivate dialogue between the United States and North Korea, he said. Russia does not want nuclear weapons appear on the Korea peninsula, he reassured. "Russia believes North Korea should return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and fulfill its international obligations," said the deputy minister. Yet, Mr. Losyukov warned against overestimating the success of the talks between the US, North Korea and China currently underway in Beijing. The sides' stances are completely opposite, and this is not an appropriate background for talks, said the Russian diplomat. The US will insist that North Korea drop its nuclear program, the stance the latter is fiercely opposed to and may go as far as take up arms. The North believes its nuclear program is the last means of deterrence, summed up the Russian diplomat. Return to Menu D. Nuclear Waste Disposal 1. Tailings Dump Of Uranium Waste In Kirghizia Threatened With Destruction BISHKEK - The Tectonic-1 giant landslide which is pending over the tailings dump of uranium waste near the town of Mailuu-Suu has become active in the south of Kirghizia. The Ministry of Ecology and Emergency Situations (MEES) of Kirghizia reported that a small part of the landslide with a volume of 250 cu m came down near the Kirghizelektroizolit plant as a result of downpours on the left bank of the Mailuu-Suu river. The earth mass blocked the Mailuu-Suu - Sary-Bez motor road. According to the MEES officers, another landslide, smaller in volume, also moved there. The management of the enterprise and the representatives of the Ministry established round-the-clock observation of the state of the landslides which have become active. According to RIA Novosti's information, the uranium deposit in the Mailuu-Suu area was developed from 1946 to 1967. As many as 23 tailings dumps with the total volume of uranium waste amounting to about 2 million cu m are now situated on the territory of the former enterprise, specifically within the town's confines. Several dozens of landslides are now threatening the tailings dumps. If such large ones as the Tectonic-1, Koi-Tash and TEC with the volume of movable mass amounting to 2-3 million cu m come down they can completely destroy the "tailings", which will cause large-scale radiation contamination of the environment. In this case the environmental catastrophe will affect all the countries of Central Asia. In expert opinion, the gamma background even on the surface of the tailings dumps reaches 60 mcR/hour. Last Sunday the village of Kara-Taryk was almost completely destroyed as a result of the descent in the south of Kirghizia of a giant landslide with a volume of up to 1.5 million cu m. At that time 38 people, among them 18 children, perished, and 42 families remained homeless. Return to Menu 2. Russia To Get First Nuke Waste Batches Within Year MOSCOW - Russia will receive initial batches of depleted nuclear fuel from overseas power plants quite soon - within this year, Alexander Rumyantsev, Federal Minister of Nuclear Power Industry, said to a news briefing in Moscow. The arrangement concerns only small batches, he reassured. The minister regards spent nuclear fuel import as very profitable. Indicatively, other countries are loath to admit Russia to the related market, he stressed. The arrangement will be lucrative as recently adopted laws on such imports make Russia a legitimate figure in the transnational nuclear fuel service market. Thus, it legalizes Russian involvement in power plant construction in Iran, China and India with prospects of fuel elements exported from Russia to its client countries to get back once spent. The USA holds jurisdiction over an approximate 80% of the world's depleted nuclear fuel, and America spares no efforts to retain dominance in that field, added Mr. Rumyantsev. Return to Menu 3. Kyrgyzstan Invites Russian Experts To Help Restore Uranium Storage Facilities BISHKEK - The Kyrgyz Emergency Situations Ministry wants experts from the Russian Nuclear Power Ministry to take part in drafting technical documents on the restoration of uranium storage facilities. This idea was expressed at an OSCE-sponsored international conference addressing the situation with uranium storage facilities, which finished in Bishkek on Friday. Anarkul Aitaliyev, director of the Emergency Situations Ministry's monitoring department, told Interfax that "in 2001, the Russian Nuclear Power Ministry conducted a feasibility study on the restoration of 30 storage facilities in Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz Emergency Situations Ministry has selected Russian experts who have profound experience in such issues to start drafting technical plans for repairs, restoration and other efforts," he said. Aitaliyev said that "there is a danger that mudflows will carry radioactive wastes to the Aral Sea and to a number of rivers in the Fergana valley, thus threatening an environmental disaster," the official said. The Bishkek conference also decided to set up an international expert group to determine the amount of funds required for this project. Another international council will be established under the Kyrgyz government. "As soon as Kyrgyzstan enters the International Atomic Energy Agency, which will happen in the near future, this organization will help the country deal with its environmental problems. The conference attached great importance to these issues," Aitaliyev noted. The World Bank has pledged about $500,000 to put the reconstruction efforts on track, while the restoration of all 30 facilities will require nearly $30 million. Return to Menu 4. Russia And Kyrgyz Republic Agree On Rehabilitation Of Storage Sites And Uranium Mines The intergovernmental Russian-Kyrgyz Commission on trade, cooperation, and science and technology held its meeting April 17 in Moscow. The counterpart chairs were Alexander Rumyantsev, the Minister of the Russian Federation of Atomic Energy, and Nikolai Tanaev, the Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic. As Nuclear.Ru was informed by Minatom of Russia press center, the meeting was to discuss, in particular, the issue of rehabilitation of uranium tail storages and uranium mining sites in the Kyzgyz Republic as well as plans to set up a joint Russian-Kyrgyz uranium mining venture Zarechnoye. The meeting resulted in a Record to mention that the Ministry of Environment and Emergencies of the Kyrgyz Republic had forwarded to the Russian side a document describing current conditions of the tail storages and mining dumps on the Kyrgyz territory. In 2002 experts from Moscow-based VNIIpromtekhnologii Institute and JCS Atomredmetzoloto jointly with the Kyrgyz Ministry of Environment and Emergencies carried out Minatom's funded assessments of radiation situation and environmental impact to the territories affected by uranium mining activities and issued a justification of investments for rehabilitation of those territories along with a set of rehabilitation and environmental protection measures. The planned rehabilitation investments are about 8.7 million dollars. JSC Atomredmetzoloto and VNIIpromtekhnologii Institute are ready to develop in 2003 the design and cost-estimate set of documents regarding the rehabilitation activities, with the Kyrgyz side being the Customer. An agreement was also reached to jointly carry out research and survey work to this end. Minatom of Russia was proposed to consider in 2003 a possibility of partial funding of the rehabilitation of Kadzhisai village (south to the lake of Issyk-Kul) contaminated as a result of uranium ore mining operations. The Commission made a number of decisions as of the Kazakh-Russia-Kyrgyz joint venture Zarechnoye to mine uranium. In particular, the meeting record says JSC Atomredmetzoloto, JSC TVEL and JSC Tekhsnabexport are to carry out in 2003 a feasibility study (business plan) for construction of JV Zarechnoye facilities and start implementing it. Moreover, Minatom of Russia, JSC Atomredmetzoloto, JSC TVEL, JSC Tekhsnabexport, the Kazakh National Atomic Company Kazatomprom and the Kyrgyz JSC Kara-Baltinsky Mining Combine are to ensure starting construction of JV Zarechnoye facilities by the end of 2003. The joint venture was registered in Alma-Aty late 2001 with shareholders NAC Kazatomprom (45% shares), JSC Atomredmetzoloto (45%) and JSC Kara-Baltinsky Mining Combine (10%). Late 2002, 20% shares of 45% owned by JSC Atomredmetzoloto were sold to JSC TVEL and 15% to JSC Tekhsnabexport. A "yellow cake" production combine is to be built at the Zarechnoye mine in Kazakhstan. The product is to be supplied to the Kara-Baltinski Mining Combine in the Kyrgyz Republic to be reprocessed into uranium oxide U3O8, which is to be sent further to Russia. The uranium mining plant is expected to be built within two years. Meanwhile, the Kara-Baltinski Mining Combine, where the plant is to be based, suffers from raw material supplies. Therefore, the Commission meeting responding to the Kyrgyz side reached an agreement on Russia's assistance to the Kyzgyz Republic in negotiating with Kazakhstan regarding guaranteed uranium concentrate supplies. Return to Menu E. Nuclear Fuel Imports 1. Embargo Lifted On Import Of Ukarinian N-Plants INF To Krasnoyarsk Region On April 22, the embargo on import of irradiated nuclear fuel (INF) from the Ukrainian nuclear power plants to the territory of Krasnoyarsk Region is to be lifted, as Nuclear.Ru was informed by the press-service of the National utility of the Ukraine (NAEK) Energoatom. The agreement was reached during the April 21 meeting between Sergei Tulub, the NAEK president, and Lev Kuznetsov, the first deputy governor of Krasnoyarsk Region, and Vitali Lunik, the deputy director general of Mining and Chemical Combine. April 12-14, the standing commission on natural resources, ecology and environmental protection of the Legislative Assembly of Krasnoyarsk Region reportedly made the decision, while discussing the implementation effectiveness the INF management program in the region, that the Ukraine is to pay 50% of its debt by September 1 and submit a clear-cut repayment schedule for the rest otherwise the import of INF from the Ukraine would be frozen. The April 21 meeting also discussed issues related to the Ukrainian INF shipment, reprocessing and storage in 2003. According to the importation program 4 trains with INF from the Ukrainian nuclear plants are to be dispatched to Mining and Chemical Combine with one train targeting PA Mayak by the end of 2003. Return to Menu F. Nuclear Safety 1. Chernobyl's Reactor May Collapse MOSCOW - The concrete-and-steel sarcophagus containing the damaged Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine is in danger of collapsing, Russia's atomic energy minister said Tuesday. "There may come a moment when the roof can no longer hold," Alexander Rumyantsev said in Moscow. Chernobyl was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident when a reactor exploded April 26, 1986, spewing radiation across a vast swath of then-Soviet Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Western Europe. Rumyantsev said the shell over the damaged reactor was constructed hastily "under the most difficult" conditions and has gaps that threaten to leak radiation. He also doubted that Ukrainian officials were carrying out the necessary scientific monitoring of the site. "No one is conducting tests on the damaged walls," Rumyantsev said, adding that a stronger concrete shelter could be built over the existing sarcophagus. International donors have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new shelter but construction is not expected to start before next year. Rumyantsev said he was well acquainted with the deficiencies of the Chernobyl shell because he worked for years at Moscow's Kurchatov nuclear institute, which has monitored the plant since Soviet times. Return to Menu 2. Russia and Ukraine Dispute Chernobyl Safety MOSCOW - Days before the 17th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Russia and Ukraine disagreed today over whether a concrete enclosure built to contain radiation from the exploded reactor building was leaking and in danger of collapse. Russia's atomic energy minister, Aleksandr Rumyantsev, said at a news conference here today that the so-called sarcophagus had "a lot of holes" and should be quickly covered by a new enclosure to safeguard against a collapse. Russian workers who monitor the Chernobyl site in Ukraine, not far from the Russian and Belarusian borders, are keeping him advised on conditions at the complex, he said. Although a collapse would not lead to a catastrophe even close to the scale of the original Chernobyl accident, he said, it could cause local radiation problems and provoke panic among those living nearby. "We can see a situation where the roof could fall in, or rather the supports that hold up the roof could fall down," Mr. Rumyantsev said. "There is a strong chance it could happen." His remarks were quickly dismissed by the Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Ministry's Chernobyl directorate, which said problems with the sarcophagus were under control and could be managed until a replacement housing was completed, perhaps in 2008. "Our specialists carry out constant monitoring of the sarcophagus frame and stabilize elements which do not seem to be reliable enough," the directorate's head, Oleksiy Petrov, told the Itar-Tass news service. Construction of the second sarcophagus, which will cost about $750,000, could begin in 2004 or 2005, he said. The debate erupted as Ukraine's government declassified 121 documents dealing with the Chernobyl reactor, both before and after the 1986 disaster, which had remained for years in the archives of the former Ukrainian K.G.B. The documents detailed construction problems with the reactor complex in the 1970's and complaints from 1984 about shoddy Yugoslav-made equipment and generator problems in the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors. Reactor No. 4 exploded during a predawn series of engineering tests on April 26, 1986. Thirty-one workers died in the immediate aftermath. Nobody knows how many have died of radiation-related illnesses in the years since, but occurrences of thyroid cancer, leukemia and other cancers have skyrocketed in the area around the reactor complex, and Ukrainian doctors say thousands have died as a result. Today Mr. Rumyantsev, the Russian atomic energy minister, ridiculed such estimates, saying Chernobyl's death toll amounted to no more than a couple of hundred, equivalent to a typical airplane crash. "When Greenpeace or other ecologists talk about a million victims, I am prepared to agree that a million people were scared," he said. "That was the main medical result of the disaster." Return to Menu 3. Russia Believes It Feasible To Build Another Sarcophagus Over Chernobyl Power Plant MOSCOW - It would be feasible to build another sarcophagus over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said at a Tuesday briefing in Moscow, dedicated to the 17th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe. Alexander Rumyantsev specified that the props supporting roof of the sarcophagus were erected "in haste" right after the explosion which had taken place on April 26, 1986, and the reliability of the structure was still questionable. According to Mr. Rumyantsev, "cracks may appear in this sarcophagus with time, and residual nuclear materials may leak." "A new structure built over the existing sarcophagus would calm down the public, and ensure the reliable burial of the power plant for the next hundred years," the Russian Atomic Energy Minister believes. Mr. Rumyantsev noted that the explosion in the Chernobyl plant's power-generating unit was the greatest man-caused catastrophe of the twentieth century. "Ten nuclear plants are operating in Russia at the moment; they are all supplied with effective safety systems, and the design of their power-generating units rules out the possibility of a similar tragedy," he said. Return to Menu 4. Russian Atomic Minister Rules Out New Disaster At Chernobyl MOSCOW - A repetition of the April 1986 disaster at a power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is impossible today, but a new protective dome must be placed over the original sarcophagus - the protective shelter that was erected over the damaged unit soon after the accident, Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said Tuesday. Safety systems at nuclear plants have been readjusted over the 17 years since the Chernobyl disaster and now the reactors shut down by themselves if a major problem is developing, he indicated. He indicated at the same time that a new dome over the sarcophagus is necessary as a barrier to radiation discharges "for centuries ahead". "Nothing tragic is going to happen if the sarcophagus collapses, but the main consequence will be purely psychological, as millions of people will be scared," Rumyantsev said. He added that no means should be spared to prevent a scare of that kind. Russian nuclear power reactors have the third position on the list of world's safest power-generating units now, with top positions occupied by Finland and Japan, Rumyantsev said. Return to Menu 5. Russian Minister Fears Collapse of Chernobyl Shield MOSCOW - The concrete shield thrown up to block radiation escaping the Chernobyl nuclear power station after it exploded in 1986 is collapsing and needs urgent reinforcement, Russia's atomic energy minister said on Tuesday. Alexander Rumyantsev was speaking at a news conference almost exactly 17 years after one of Chernobyl's four reactors exploded and spewed clouds of radioactivity over much of Europe in the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster. "We can see a situation where the roof could fall in, or rather the supports that hold up the roof could fall down," he said, adding that the concrete itself was leaking radiation. "There are a lot of holes in the sarcophagus," he said. He said workers from his ministry involved in monitoring the reactor in ex-Soviet Ukraine kept him informed. "I know how the sarcophagus was built. It was built in difficult radioactive conditions for the builders. They had to work fast to get away from the danger," he said. "We need to surround it with another sarcophagus." The Chernobyl disaster killed about 30 firefighters in the immediate aftermath, and many of the people involved in the clean-up died in the next weeks. Rumyantsev said a collapse of the Soviet-era sarcophagus, dramatic as it may be, would have much more limited consequences than the original disaster. "There is a strong chance it could happen, but it would not be such a catastrophe, it would be more of a local affair," he said. "It would be bad for Ukraine." Rumyantsev, a staunch believer in the future of nuclear energy, said that despite the shock experienced by the public in 1986, estimates of the number of victims were often exaggerated. Environmentalists and doctors in Ukraine say there have been thousands of deaths from radiation-related illnesses and a huge increase in thyroid cancer following the accident. "Say there were 200 deaths ... an accident in a chemical factory would be more horrible judging by the number of victims. It was about as deadly as a plane crash -- Concorde, say," Rumyantsev said, referring to a supersonic jet which crashed in Paris nearly three years ago. "When Greenpeace or other ecologists talk about a million victims, I am prepared to agree that a million people were scared. That was the main medical result of the disaster." The Chernobyl area was evacuated after the disaster and the inhabitants sent away although some have since returned, unhappy with their new flats. Return to Menu G. Uranium Production Facilities Shutdown 1. Russia to Assist Kyrgyzstan in Ending Uranium Production Russia plans to help the former Soviet state of Kyrgyzstan close its uranium-production facilities and empty its remaining uranium stockpiles, Agence France-Presse reported today. Russia's assistance will include preparing technical data and funding for the project, which is expected to cost up to $9 million, Russian Atomic Energy Ministry officials said. Return to Menu H. Nuclear Submarines 1. Russia Will Be Given Money To Utilize Scrapped Submarines MOSCOW - An agreement on the multilateral nuclear environmental program for Russia will be signed in Stockholm on May 21st at the foreign ministers' level. This program envisages allocation of funds to Russia for realization of environmental projects in the country's Northwest, primarily, in the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Vladimir Chizhov, stated at a press conference on Monday. The projects are aimed at utilizing atomic submarines, the Deputy Minister explained. The agreement is expected to be signed by Russia, the USA, Norway and the EU member-states, Mr. Chizhov said. Vladimir Chizhov spoke on Monday at parliamentary hearings in the Federation Council, which were devoted to Russia's national interests and experience in international co-operation in the north of Europe. At the end of the hearings the participants passed some recommendations. For example, they find it possible to consider Russia's joining the Northern Council. They believe Russia's membership in this organization will help balance its foreign economic relations and open new opportunities to attract investment to Russia's northern regions. Return to Menu I. Russian Nuclear Forces 1. Russian Atomic Energy Ministry Carrying out Test Explosions in Arctic Ocean MOSCOW - The Russian Atomic Energy Ministry is carrying out test explosions on the island of Novaya Zemlya in Russia's northern waters. This was announced yesterday at a press conference on the ministry's work by Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev. He confirmed reports that tests were taking place, but explained that they were not nuclear tests, as Russia is a signatory of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. 'Our annual non-nuclear, gas dynamic tests are aimed at reducing the risk to nuclear weapons from fire and explosions. We use modeling and ordinary explosives to carry out our tests,' said Rumyantsev. Return to Menu J. Nuclear Industry 1. Russia To Finalize Ten Reactors, Build No New Nuclear Plants MOSCOW - Russia will not build any new nuclear power plants, but will finalize the ten reactors already under construction. Those reactors had begun to be built before the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster of 1986, Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said Wednesday. The completion rate of unfinished reactors is 70-80 percent and capital investments required to finalize them will be relatively small, he said. Among others the Atomic Energy Ministry will resume work on the Primorye nuclear power plant, expected to make the Primorye Territory self-sufficient in power supply and export electricity to Japan. "In designing and building the nuclear power plant we shared out plans with the Japanese side and met with its understanding," he said. The 30 reactors of Russia's nuclear power plants account for 13 percent of Russia's electricity output. In the European part of Russia their share is about 40 percent, Rumyantsev said. On January 1, 2003 the world's nuclear power plants had a total 438 nuclear power reactors with an aggregate capacity of 353 gigawatts. Most of the reactors are in the United States, Europe, and Japan. The International Atomic Energy Agency believes that over the 17 years since Chernobyl nuclear power plants' safety and security systems have reached a high degree of sophistication. Return to Menu 2. Date Of Auction For Kazakh Nuclear Plant Set ALMATY - The date of an auction for Mangyshlak Nuclear Power Plant in Mangistau region, western Kazakhstan, has been set. According to an official statement from the nuclear plant's receiver Bakyt Chirchikbaev, the auction will be held on April 29 (English method - rising price) and, if this is not successful, again on April 30 (Dutch method - falling price), this year. The auction will be for the property complex of Mangyshlak Nuclear Power Plant, involving a single production cycle, needed to provide constant energy supply and ensure radioactive safety at the BN-350 reactor, in one lot, the press release said. The lot includes buildings, installations, equipment, engineering networks, transmitters, documentation, unfinished construction sites, accounts receivable and goods and materials. The start price is 6.041 billion tenge. The minimum price for Dutch method is 111.769 million tenge. Participants in the auction should pay a deposit of 10% of the start price (for April 29) and of the minimum price (for April 30). The deadline for applications to participate is one hour before the start of the auction. The Mangistau District Court started receivership at Mangyshlak Nuclear Power Plant on January 16, 2003. At the same time the court declared the plant bankrupt. According to a Kazakh government decree, the main condition for the sale is that the property is sold in one lot. Kazatomprom is the most likely new owner of the plant. The station was built in 1960s as a military-strategic object and it currently provides the region, with a population of 315,000, with drinking water and all kinds of energy. In 1973 the station launched a fast neutron reactor BN-350 with 20-year life span. This reactor is now to be put out of operation. Mangyshlak Nuclear Power Plant currently includes Thermal Power Pant-1 and -2, a condensation thermal plant, a plant for the preparation of distillates and for industrial water supply, main heat conduits and pipelines with centralized water supply, cables to substations, a repair plant, warehouses, a tank park, a fuel oil reservoir and other property. The plant's total debt currently amounts to about 8.3 billion tenge, including 4.5 billion tenge to the budget. The official exchange rate on April 21 was 152 tenge to the dollar. Return to Menu 3. Minatom Revises Uranium Mining Projections As Nuclear.Ru was informed by the Minatom of Russia press service, Russia is really to increase uranium mining during next 10-12 years, but this will be 3 to 6 thousand tons a year rather than 13 to 17 tons reported by RBK and Kommersant news agencies. Furthermore, Nuclear.Ru was explained by Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy Mikhail Solonin that Minatom had given those numbers at April 18 round-table in the Russian Federal Council devoted to "Natural Resources and Alternative Nuclear Power Development". According to him, Russia is not to face uranium shortage up to 2030 provided balanced export-import policies ensured. While saying that Deputy Minister Solonin noted that next 10-12 years the Russia's uranium demand, considering export, will grow up to 17,000 tons a year. Russia's present uranium export needs which include fuel for NPPs, enriched uranium and HEU blendstock are about 10,000 per year. The country mines annually about 3,000 tons of natural uranium. The material needs are also met using the feed component returned under the program for reprocessing highly enriched uranium into the low enriched one (HEU-LEU deal) and that of state stockpiles. According to Minatom of Russia, the total surveyed uranium stockpiles in the world are 3.5 million tons. Annually the world mines 32,000-37,000 tons of uranium with the demand of about 60,000 tons. Australia, Kazakhstan and Canada are the leaders in the uranium stockpiles with Russia being the 7th. The total surveyed uranium stocks in Russia are presently 165,000 tons self-cost less than 80 US dollars per kg; still this includes 56,000 tons which self-cost less than 40 US dollars per kilogram. Return to Menu 4. Russia Offers Indonesia Floating Nuclear Plant BUCHAREST - Russia has offered Indonesia a floating nuclear power plant that can be installed in a ship to deal with potential lack of power supply, an Indonesian cabinet minister said. "Russia has offered us a floating nuclear power plant," State Minister for Research and Technology Hatta Radjasa told journalists here on Saturday before leaving for Russia. He said Indonesia will need such a power plant by 2015-17 to overcome the lack of power supply due to increasing consumption of electricity while the traditional power supply, including crude oil, has been decreasing. "The power plant can be used in many regions," he said. He said the power plant has a capacity of 40 megawatts, and has the advantage of being sent to whichever part of the archipelago that needs it. He said the concept of the floating power plant differs from the one the government planned to build in Gunung Muria, Central Java. The nuclear-generated power plant in Gunung Muria would have a capacity of 1,000MW, said Hatta, who is traveling with President Megawati Sukarnoputri on a 10-day East European trip. Hatta added that the Russian government had also offered to build Indonesia a rocket- and satellite-launching ground in Biak, Papua province. He also explained about the Indonesian Air Force's plan to buy Sukhoi warplanes from Russia. But he reminded journalists that Indonesia would not only buy Sukhoi or other equipment, but also would supply components for the military equipment. Thus, if Indonesia bought Sukhoi, Indonesia should also have rights to supply many components of the warplane to Russia. "We come to Russia not only to buy Sukhoi, but also to sell components," he said. By doing so, Indonesia might benefit its companies at home, such as the National Aircraft Industry (PT Dirgantara), the ship-manufacturing company PT PAL, and the electronics industry (PT ETN). Megawati's 10-day itinerary includes Romania, Russia and Poland. Return to Menu 5. Russia Will Have Enough Atomic Energy Until 2030 MOSCOW - Russian atomic energy is completely provided for with raw materials until, at least, 2030. Deputy Minister for Atomic Energy Mikhail Solonin told Rosbalt at a special round table session of the Upper House of the State Duma on Friday that Russia is currently in 7th place in the world in terms of volume of reserve of atomic energy, which is estimated at 160,000 tons. But existing production power will allow us to provide for consumption of Russian energy until 2010. Solonin also said that Russia possesses 'significant scientific potential in the area of atomic energy.' At the same time, he said that in the Russian atomic industry there exists a number of serious ecological problems. In part, the country has accumulated a significant amount of radioactive waste. According to the Ministry for Atomic Energy, the storage at more than 300 points across Russia is around 500 million cubic meters of liquid and 177 million tons of solid radioactive waste. Solonin said that to decide ecological problems of atomic energy it will be necessary to eliminate the incompletely financed federal program 'Nuclear and radioactive security in Russia,' and at the same time legally regulate the question of citizen responsibility for radiation contamination of the environment.' Return to Menu K. Chemical Weapons Dismantlement 1. Russian Ammunitions Agency Head Steps Down MOSCOW - Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has signed an instruction to relieve Zinovy Pak from the post of general director of the Russian Ammunitions Agency. Pak stepped down after reaching the maximum age for holding a government post. Col. Gen. Viktor Kholstov has replaced Pak. Kholstov earlier headed the radiation, chemical and biologic protection forces. Return to Menu L. Announcements 1. Statement Regarding the Upcoming Second Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2005 Review Conference of the NPT The second session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2005 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is opening in Geneva on April 28. The session will consider the issues of the strengthening of the international nonproliferation regime and its foundation - NPT - and implementation of the provisions of the Final Document of the 2000 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, especially the part concerning nuclear disarmament, cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the strengthening of the control functions of the IAEA, counteraction against international terrorism in the context of new challenges and threats, and others. The present session will be held in a not easy situation. It is the military actions in Iraq under the pretext of its "disarmament" and the DPRK's decision on withdrawal from the NPT and the stalling of efforts in establishing a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East. But there are some positive aspects too: the accession of Cuba to the NPT, the substantial consolidation of the system of IAEA safeguards, and progress in the elaboration of a treaty on the creation of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in Central Asia. As a state party to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons and as one of its depositaries, Russia, as before, is of the view that the NPT continues to play the major role of a cornerstone international instrument ensuring global and regional stability and security. The Russian delegation intends to make its contribution to a constructive dialogue of the participants in the second Preparatory Committee session with a view to enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of this major international treaty. We consider that the results of the 2005 Review Conference will largely depend on the effectiveness of the PC's work. Return to Menu DISCLAIMER: Nuclear News is presented for informational purposes only. Views presented in any given article are those of the individual author or source and not of RANSAC. RANSAC takes no responsibility for the technical accuracy of information contained in any article presented in Nuclear News. RANSAC's Nuclear News is compiled two to three times weekly. To be automatically removed from our mailing list, click on the following link: Remove Me From The List If you have questions/comments/concerns, please reply to news@216.119.87.134 |
|
|
|
© 2007 Partnership for Global Security. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement.