1.Nuclear power plants of Russia

All the nuclear power plants, except for the Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant, are located in the European part of Russian in the four integrated power-generating systems of the Northwest, the Center, the Middle Volga, and the Urals. A map of the active nuclear power plants of Russia and the types of reactors are given in Figure 1.

Fig. 1. Map of active nuclear power plants of Russia and types of reactors

Power plants in map, from top to bottom:	Types of reactors
Kola	VVER-400
Leningrad	RBMK-1000
Smolensk	RBMK-1000
Kalinin	VVER-1000
Kursk	RBMK-1000
Novovoronezh	VVER-1000
Balakovo	VVER-1000
Bilibino	EGP-6
Beloyarsk	BN-600
Volgodon	VVER-1000

In 2003, operating in the Russian Federation were 10 nuclear electric power plants with 30 power-generating units, the installed capacity of which was 22.242 GW (electr.). The power-generating units included units of high, medium, and low capacity:

· 14 power-generating units with VVER pressurized water reactors, including six units with VVER-440 reactors and eight units with VVER-1000 reactors;

· 11 power-generating units with RBMK-1000 channel-type reactors;

· one power-generating unit with a BN-600 fast breeder reactor;

· four low-capacity power-generating units with EGP-6 channel-type water-graphite reactors.

The principal technical indices of the power-generating units are given in Table 1.

Table 1 Principal technical indices of power-generating units of nuclear power plants of Russia¹

Parameter	VVER-440	VVER-1000	RBMK-1000	BN-600	EGP-6
Thermal energy output, MW	1375	3000	3200	1470	62
Electrical output, MW	440	1000	1000	600	12
Coolant pressure, MPa	12.3	15.7	6.9	-	6.2
Coolant flow rate, m. ton.\hr	40800	84800	48000	25000	600
Coolant temperature, °С	268	289	284	550	265
Steaming rate, m. ton.\hr	2700	5880	5600	660	96
Average fuel enrichment, %	3.6	4.3	2.0-2.4	17-33	3.0-3.6
Number of fuel assemblies in core	349	163	1550-1580	369	273

The share of energy produced by the nuclear power plants of Russia amounts to 21% in the European part of the country; up to 40% in the energy zones of the Center, the Middle Volga, and the Northwest of Russia; and 16% for Russia as a whole. In 2003, the rate charged by the nuclear power plants, together with the investment component, amounted to 0.39 ruble per kWh (the rate for thermal electric power plants is about 0.6 ruble per kWh.²

The nuclear power plants, being state owned and operating in the base portion of the load, guarantee the stability of the power supply to regions of Russia and make a substantial contribution to protecting the energy-related security of the state. Along with the thermal electric power plants and hydroelectric power plants of Russia, they are the production base of the Unified Energy System of Russia (UES). Powerful and efficient nuclear power plants perform, as part of the UES, system-forming functions:

· they determine thе structure of the high-voltage power transmission lines of the European part of Russia;

· they ensure the parallel operation of power sources, because they are located at energy system nodes;

· since they are near the borders of the European part of Russia, they actually enable the export of electrical power from the wholesale market for high-voltage networks to Finland, CIS countries (Belarus and Ukraine), and the Baltics.

Designed for carrying the base load in Russia's UES, the nuclear power plants nevertheless participate in seasonal and diurnal regulation of the frequency and power of Russia's UES, providing an almost twofold increase in power for the fall/winter peak period.

A priority objective of Minatom in 2003, was, as before, to ensure that the load of Russia's nuclear power plants was carried in a stable manner for the year, particularly in the fall/winter peak period. Russia's nuclear power plants in 2003 generated around 148 billion kWh of electrical power and some 3.5 million gigacalories of heat. It should be noted that, theoretically, the potential for the generation of electrical power by Russia's nuclear power plants at present is estimated at 154 billion kWh, with a capacity utilization factor (CUP) of 83%.* Since 1998, the annual growth increment in production at the nuclear power plants has, on average, been equivalent to the commissioning of a power-generating unit of 1 million kW of power.³

The radioactive releases for all the nuclear power plants did not exceed allowable values. For several years now, all nuclear power plants have seen an overall decline in personnel irradiation doses.

Special attention is being focused on the implementation of measures involving the physical protection of nuclear power plants, as well as counterterrorism measures. In general, it can be said that the physical protection of Russia's nuclear power plants is reliable and meets today's worldwide requirements.

2.Operating organization

The state enterprise known as the Russian State Concern for the Production of Electrical and Heat Energy at Nuclear Power Plants (Rosenergoatom) was formed in 1992 and, until 2002, effected centralized state management of eight of nine of Russia's nuclear power plant. On 1 April 2002, Rosenergoatom was converted into a generating company with a standardized rate schedule by means of annexing to it 10 nuclear power plants as branches, including the Leningrad nuclear power plant and the Volgodon nuclear power plant, which was commissioned in December 2001.

Under Russian Federation law governing the use of nuclear power, Rosenergoatom performs the functions of the operating organization at nuclear power plants and bears full responsibility for maintaining nuclear and radiation safety in all stages of operation of the nuclear power plants, including measures associated with accident response.⁴

The following basic functions are assigned to Rosenergoatom:

- Ensuring the safe operation of the nuclear power plants, including the following:

•	developing and introducing a culture of safety at the nuclear power plants;
•	continuously monitoring safety at nuclear power plants;
•	collecting and analyzing information on accidents at nuclear power plants, equipment breakdowns, and human error, and generating corrective measures
•	setting up physical protection and fire control for nuclear power plants;
•	developing and implementing emergency-measures plans

- Monitoring of the operations of the nuclear power plants, including the following:

•	providing the nuclear power plants with the requisite financial and logistical resources;
•	ensuring the development and control of the implementation of measures geared to enhancing the dependability, quality, and safe operation of the power plants;
•	ensuring the development of regulatory documents and scientific-technical support of the nuclear power plants, and licensing operations;
•	selecting and training operations personnel and upgrading their skills;
•	interstate and international activities;
•	legal support

- Expanding nuclear power plant capacities, including the following:

•	developing and implementing a program for expanding nuclear power plants and commissioning them;
•	upgrading and renovating active nuclear power plants;
•	solving problems associated with extending the operating lives of active nuclear power plants;
•	planning/design work and licensing the construction of nuclear power plants;
•	taking part in handling issues involving the social development and security of nuclear-power-engineering employees;
•	informing the public on matters of the environmental safety of nuclear power plants.

3. Characteristics of power-generating units of Russia's nuclear power plants

At present, five VVER-reactor-equipped nuclear power plants are operating in Russia. The total installed capacity of the 14 power-generating units with reactors of that kind is 10,594 MW. The first power-generating unit of the Volgodon (Rostov) nuclear power plant was commissioned in December 2001. No new capacities had been put into production at nuclear power plants in Russia for eight years, which is why 25 December 2001 can rightly be considered the beginning of the rebirth of nuclear power-engineering in Russia.

Despite such a lengthy hiatus in the erection of new power-generating units, work did not stop in the industry in terms of enhancing the safety of existing nuclear power plants or the creating new designs for nuclear power plants that met the latest requirements.

During that time, a great deal of work was done at active nuclear-power-plant power-generating units equipped with VVER reactors to upgrade equipment and systems with an eye to raising the level of their safety and bringing that level into compliance with modern requirements. Serving as the basis for that work is the Safety Enhancement Concept developed for each type of nuclear-power-plant power-generating unit with VVER reactors.

Underlying the Safety Enhancement Concept for active power-generating units is a principle according to which measures to improve the quality of operation, reduce the probability of accidents, and enhance the culture of safety, as well as measures that eliminate and/or compensate for existing discrepancies with the requirements of modern-day rules and regulations, must have been developed and introduced as priority measures. Implementation of those measures makes it possible to enhance even more the reliability of existing barriers on the release path of radioactive substances and has a substantial effect on protection in depth.

Developed for each nuclear-power-plant power-generating unit on the basis of existing safety enhancement concepts were specific measures and schedules for their implementation. Among such measures are the following:

•	measures for analyzing the condition of the metal of the main equipment and pipelines, and the introduction of nondestructive methods of assaying the metal;
•	measures for replacing worn-out and obsolete equipment;
•	measures for reducing the probability of common-cause failure;
•	upgrading of operating instructions and accident-response instructions;
•	measures for upgrading systems crucial to safety for purposes of enhancing their reliability.

Those measures make it possible to ensure the reliable, safe operation of a nuclear power plant with VVER reactors until the end of the design-basis service life.

In addition, the implementation of those measures made it possible to move to the solution of another problem¾extending the operating life of first-generation power-generating units beyond the design-basis life and preserving the high level of safety achieved thanks to their being equipped with additional, state-of-the-art safety systems and diagnostic equipment, verifying that the main equipment has sufficient service life, and performing an in-depth safety analysis. The issue of extending the operating life of first-generation power-generating units is extremely important and has strategic significance. Work to extend the service life of active nuclear power plants got under way under the Program for the Expansion of Russian Federation Nuclear Power Engineering for 1998-2005 and the Period up to 2010, which was approved by the 21 July 98 resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation № 815.⁵

RF Gosatomnadzor [Russian Federal Oversight of Nuclear and Radiation Safety], which is the Russian Federation executive-branch state agency that arranges and performs state regulation of safety in connection with the use of nuclear energy, nuclear materials, radioactive substances, and items based on them, has formulated requirements for the methodology of extending operating life. They involve the following:

- approving the results of integrated testing of the condition of equipment, buildings, and structures, ensuring their safe operation for the new period;

- bringing first-generation power-generating units into compliance with the requirements of today's regulatory base.

To date, licenses for extending operating life have been secured for power-generating units №3 and 4 of the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant and for power-generating unit №1 of the Kola nuclear power plant. In the course of the work, equipment that, because of physical wear, could no longer be used was replaced, and additional buildings and structures were erected. All the work done makes it possible to conclude that the level of safety of the power-generating units meets the requisite criteria.

RF Gosatomnadzor is also reviewing requests for an extension of the operating life of power-generating unit №1 of the Leningrad nuclear power plant and power-generating unit №1 of the Bilibino nuclear power plant.⁶

One area of the Program involves the implementation of measures to upgrade the fuel cycle. Four reactors of the Balakovo nuclear power plant are being converted to uranium-gadolinium fuel. Fuel of elevated stability is being introduced in the reactor of power-generating unit №1 of the Kalinin nuclear power plant.

Work is under way to upgrade the fuel of VVER-440 reactors.

All that makes it possible to say with confidence that the level of safety of active power-generating units of nuclear power plants with VVER reactors meets the requirements of domestic and international standards. Such a conclusion is also confirmed by the results of numerous inspections and checks, including some performed with the participation of international experts.

At all active nuclear power plants with RBMK reactors, a complex of technical and organizational measures have been performed that have improved reactor safety considerably and preclude the repeat of the kind of accident that happened at Chernobyl. Power-generating units with RBMK-1000 reactors are now being upgraded and re-outfitted so as to bring their level of safety as near as possible to modern-day requirements. Reactor process channels are to be replaced; systems for emergency reactor cooling, control and protection, and central monitoring and diagnosis are to be upgraded; and the efficiency of the steam release from the reactor space during accidents involving the rupture of process channels is to be enhanced.

RF Gosatomnadzor licenses have been secured for all nuclear-power-plant units with RBMK reactors for loading uranium-erbium fuel, to include full-scale loading at power-generating units №1 of the Smolensk plant and №4 of the Kursk plant.

The EGP-6 power-generating units with low-power channel uranium-graphite reactors have proven to be reliable and safe throughout their entire service life. They are first-generation nuclear power plants, which is why a number of the systems are to be upgraded.

The fast reactors (BN) have a number of fundamental advantages over other types of nuclear reactors in terms of safety and fuel use. Work is being done to analyze the possibility of using MOX fuel in the core of the BN-600 reactor for the purpose of disposing of weapons-grade plutonium. Tests of two types of MOX fuel were continued in the BN-600 reactor of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant to determine the optimal fuel-column option.

According to the latest annual finding of RF Gosatomnadzor, the current status of the operating safety of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant is satisfactory. Successful experience in the operation of the BN-600 reactor has made it possible to design a nuclear power plant with a BN-800 reactor.

The summary data on active power-generating units of Russia's nuclear power plants are given in Table 2.

Table 2. Summary data on active power-generating units of Russia's nuclear power plants

Placed on line in system	Nuclear power plant	Unit	Type of reactor	Capacity MW(electr)
12 Dec 71	Novovoronezh	3	VVER-440	417
28 Dec 72	Novovoronezh	4	VVER-440	417
29 June 73	Kola	1	VVER-440	440
21 Dec 73	Leningrad	1	RBMK-1000	1,000
12 Jan 74	Bilibino	1	EGP-6	12
09 Dec 74	Kola	2	VVER-440	440
30 Dec 74	Bilibino	2	EGP-6	12
11 July 75	Leningrad	2	RBMK-1000	1,000
22 Dec 75	Bilibino	3	EGP-6	12
12 Dec 76	Kursk	1	RBMK-1000	1,000
27 Dec 76	Bilibino	4	EGP-6	12
28 Jan 79	Kursk	2	RBMK-1000	1,000
07 Dec 79	Leningrad	3	RBMK-1000	1,000
08 Apr 80	Beloyarsk	3	BN-600	600
31May 80	Novovoronezh	5	VVER-1000	1,000
09 Feb 81	Leningrad	4	RBMK-1000	1,000
24 Mar 81	Kola	3	VVER-440	440
09 Dec 82	Smolensk	1	RBMK-1000	1,000
17 Oct 83	Kursk	3	RBMK-1000	1,000
09 May 84	Kalinin	1	VVER-1000	1,000
11 Oct 84	Kola	4	VVER-440	440
31 May 85	Smolensk	2	RBMK-1000	1,000
02 Dec 85	Kursk	4	RBMK-1000	1,000
28 Dec 85	Balakovo	1	VVER-1000	1,000
03 Dec86	Kalinin	2	VVER-1000	1,000
08 Oct 87	Balakovo	2	VVER-1000	1,000
24 Dec88	Balakovo	3	VVER-1000	1,000
17 Jan 90	Smolensk	3	RBMK-1000	1,000
11 Apr 93	Balakovo	4	VVER-1000	1,000
30 Mar 01	Volgodon	1	VVER-1000	1,000

A design with a VVER-1000 reactor is the basis for the industry at the moment and the base design for the domestic market and for export. That design is being sold at present in China, India, and Iran.

The VVER-1500 with a capacity of 1.5 million kW will be the base model after 2010. Russia's energy strategy calls for putting up to 15 GW a year on line during period. In that context, the job of putting 10 GW of capacity on line in 5 years is assigned to the nuclear power-engineering industry.⁷

Moreover, the following design efforts are under way in the industry:

- nuclear heat and electric power plant of medium capacity, VVER-640, which is intended for the production of electricity and heat in large Russian cities;

- nuclear heat and electric power plant, VK-300, for the production of electricity and heat for Russian cities (regional use);

- BN-800 fast reactor;

- low-power nuclear power plant based on a floating power-generating unit with KLT-40S reactor units for providing energy to remote coastal areas.⁸

The main low-power nuclear power plant is slated to be built in the city of Severodvinsk, in Arkhangelsk Oblast, as well as in the city of Pevek and the closed administrative-territorial entity Vilyuchinsk. The design for the construction in Severodvinsk has been completed and is ready for implementation. The construction will take approximately 4 years, the operating life of the power-generation unit is at least 36 years, and the cost of construction in 2003 prices will be 5.9 billion rubles.⁶

4. Principal objectives in the near term and the long term

In 2004, Russia's nuclear power sector celebrated its 50th anniversary¾on 26 June 1954, the world's first electric power plant operating on nuclear power was powered up in Obninsk. That actually marks the start of the world's nuclear power-engineering, which today meets more than 15% of mankind's electricity needs. By the 50th anniversary, the sector had assembled the highest scientific and production potential and had become one of Russian industry's strategically important areas.

In recent years, the efficiency of the operation of Russian nuclear power plants has increased rather rapidly: the average CUP was 69.1% in 2000, 70.3 % in 2001, and 73% in 2002, and should be at least 76% in 2003. The task is to bring the CUP up to 82% by 2004-2005 by reducing electricity consumption for the internal needs of nuclear power plants, as well as to reduce the duration of planned and unplanned repair operations.⁸

В 2004, RF Minatom's nuclear power-engineering activities will be focused on the following main areas:

- continuing basic and applied research in the interests of expanding nuclear power-engineering and modernizing the production and experimental base necessary for enhancing the reliability and operating safety of nuclear power plants;

- increasing the generation of electrical power at nuclear power plants by raising the CUP and putting new power capacities on line;

- physical startup and commissioning of power-generating unit №3 of the Kalinin nuclear power plant;

- continuing the construction of nuclear power-generating units very near completion: №5 of the Kursk nuclear power plant; №2 of the Volgodon nuclear power plant; №5 of the Balakovo nuclear power plant; and №4 of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant;

- work geared to modernizing power-generating units at the Kola and Leningrad nuclear power plants and extending their service life;

- work involving the creation of dry storage facilities for the long-duration storage of spent nuclear fuel;

- expanding the export of nuclear fuel and nuclear technologies;

- participation in large international projects involving promising advances in nuclear reactors and nuclear technologies for solving the problems associated with providing energy for the steadily growing human population (ITER, INPRO, GT MGR, etc.);

- continuing construction of nuclear power plants in Iran, China, and India,

- physical startup and commissioning of first power-generating unit of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China.⁹

According to the special federal program Energy-Efficient Economy, the generation of electricity at Russia's nuclear power plants must amount to 174 billion kWh in 2005 and 212 billion kWh in 2010, i.e., 5% a year, with the amount of energy generated by nuclear power plants in the European part of Russia increasing to 24% in 2005 and 30% in 2010.¹⁰

Plans call for reaching those targets by increasing the CUP of active nuclear power plants and putting new generating capacities online, primarily the power-generating unit №3 of the Kalinin nuclear power plant and unit №5 of the Kursk nuclear power plant, as well as by extending the operating life of first-generation power-generating units by 15 years beyond the initial life, with the unconditional enhancement of their safety by 1.5- to twofold in terms of the probability of damage to their cores.

During the implementation of investment programs in 2004-2006, plans call for the commissioning of power-generating unit №3 of the Kalinin nuclear power plant (1,000 MW), power-generating unit №5 of the Kursk nuclear power plant (1,000 MW), and unit №2 of the Volgodon nuclear power plant (1,000 MW).

In 2006–2010, plans call for the commissioning of power-generating unit №5 of the Balakovo nuclear power plant (1,000 MW), unit №4 of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant (880 MW) and unit № 6 of the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant (1,000 MW). В 2002, a Declaration of Intentions was signed for the construction of the Bashkir nuclear power plant. The Declaration complies with the basic provisions of the Energy Strategy of Russia for the Period up to 2020 and the special federal program Energy-Efficient Economy for 2002-2005 and for the period up to 2010. Plans call for the commissioning of the first 1,000-MW power-generating unit at the Bashkir nuclear power plant before 2010 and a second unit of the same capacity before 2012.⁹

In the next few years, nuclear power will have to achieve new objectives, chief among them the movement to a qualitatively new level with fast reactors. That is necessary because of the problem of radioactive waste, spending for the solution of which problem is steadily growing.

5. Environmental policy of RF Minatom¹¹

The environmental policy of RF Minatom is geared to achieving the level of nuclear and radiation [word omitted] accepted in international practice and developing new, environmentally safe technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy. The policy is based on basic science in the fields of ecology; environmental protection and environmental management; nuclear, radiation, and sectorwide safety; and health and labor protection.

The main goal of the environmental policy of RF Minatom is to create the conditions that enable sector enterprises to most efficiently achieve the strategic goal of the environmental policy of the Russian Federation¾conservancy of natural systems, maintenance of their integrity and vital functions for the stable growth of society, improvement of quality of life, improvement of public health and demographics, and assurance of the environmental safety of the country.

A high-priority task associated with ensuring environmental safety involves strengthening and upgrading physical protection and state control and accounting system so as to provide reliable protection of facilities that involve nuclear and radiation hazards, among which facilities are Russia's nuclear power plants, and safeguard nuclear materials, radioactive substances, and radioactive waste, as well as prevent their illegal trade and unauthorized use.

The most important elements of the environmental policy of RF Minatom are the openness and accessibility of environmental information and constructive interaction with the public.

The operation of nuclear power plants in Russia complies with legislative and regulatory acts, health standards, rules, and regulations, and other regulatory instruments in the area of environmental protection and public health that have been approved by environmental protection agencies of the Russian Federation.

Since the Chernobyl accident in 1986, research and design in the area of nuclear technologies have devoted particular attention to issues of the environment and safety in RF Minatom operations. Russia's nuclear power plants are being systematically outfitted with modern, highly efficient, ecofriendly installations and equipment for the management of radioactive waste. The work is being done under the Working Program for the Period up to 2008, which was approved by RF Minatom. The goal of the program is to further improve the radiation safety of nuclear power plants. In all, 35 state-of-the-art installations for the management of solid, liquid, and gaseous radioactive waste will be put on line at 10 nuclear power plants during the life of the Program. By and large, the developers of those installations are domestic science and design institutes. In the opinion of the experts, Russian advances in the management of radioactive waste are among the best in the world.

Another important event consists in the creation at all of Russia's nuclear power plants of automated systems for monitoring radiation conditions in the areas of their location and the combination of those systems into a sector-level subsystem with a central control console in the Crisis Center of Rosenergoatom. RF Minatom's sector-level automated system for monitoring radiation conditions is the most important subsystem of the Unified State Automated System for Monitoring Radiation Conditions in the Russian Federation. At present, facility-level automated systems for monitoring radiation conditions have been created at 20 sector enterprises, including all of Russia's nuclear power plants. Information on the radiation conditions in the health-protection zone and the observation zone [?] of enterprises with facility-level automated systems for monitoring radiation conditions goes in the approved manner to the Situation-Crisis Center of RF Minatom, which is the sector center for the collection of data on radiation conditions. At present, information from more than 250 posts of facility-level automated systems for monitoring radiation conditions goes to the Situation-Crisis Center of RF Minatom every day.¹²

The absence of incidents accompanied by radiation effects at Russian nuclear power plants makes it possible to assert that the radiation protection of personnel and the public in connection with the operation of nuclear power plants meets the existing regulatory requirements, including those of the world community, and that Russia's nuclear power plants are ecologically clean enterprises with a high level of safety.

RF Minatom intends to maintain a productive business collaboration with international governmental and nongovernmental organizations and science institutions that are doing effective work in terms of protecting the environment and ensuring environmental safety.

6. Conceptual framework for management of spent nuclear fuel

A strategic area of development of nuclear power-engineering of the Russian Federation involves the creation of a closed nuclear fuel cycle, the efficient use of natural uranium and recycled fissile materials, and the minimization of radioactive waste requiring long-duration geological isolation. A key component in the implementation of that strategy involves the management of spent nuclear fuel.

In Russia, spent nuclear fuel is not considered radioactive waste, but is regarded as an intermediate energy materials that contains the enormous fuel potential of uranium-238 (95%), uranium-235 (1%), and plutonium-239 (1%). A necessary condition for the solution of the problem of the management of spent nuclear fuel is that nuclear, radiation, and environmental safety and nonproliferation be ensured and the technology-induced risks to the public and to the environment be reduced.

RF Minatom has prepared the "Conceptual Framework for the Management of the Spent Nuclear Fuel of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy" (hereinafter referred to in the text as the "Conceptual Framework"), which formulates the environmentally safe strategy of the domestic nuclear sector in the area of the final stage of the nuclear fuel cycle for the coming decades up to the year 2030.¹³

The Conceptual Framework is based on a key and extremely important provision of the Government of the Russian Federation-approved Strategy for the Expansion of Russia's Nuclear Power in the First Half of the XXI Century: "A strategic area in the expansion of the Russian Federation's nuclear power consists in closing the nuclear fuel cycle, as a result of which natural nuclear raw materials, as well as the synthetic fissile materials produced by the operation of nuclear reactors (plutonium and other transuranic elements), should be more fully used, and minimizing the formation of radioactive waste from the management of spent nuclear fuel."

The key component in the implementation of that strategy is the management of spent nuclear fuel.

As of early 2002, some 270,000 m. tons of spent nuclear fuel had accumulated in the world. The amount of spent nuclear fuel in Russia at nuclear power plants and in the storage facilities of radiochemical plants in 2002 is expected to be nearly 16,000 m. tons, and its total radioactivity is expected to be on the order of 6 billion curies. The sources of spent nuclear fuel in Russia are 10 nuclear power plants, nuclear submarines and surface vessels of the Navy, the nuclear icebreaker fleet, and research reactors. It grows annually by up to 850 m. tons. The annual volume of spent nuclear fuel removed from reactors throughout the world is about 10,500 m. tons, of which 3,000 m. tons are reprocessed.¹³

A closed nuclear fuel cycle for uranium has been implemented for VVER-440 reactors: after being held in near-reactor holding ponds for 3-5 years, the spent nuclear fuel is shipped in overpacks for reprocessing to the RT-1 plant of the Mayak Production Association as spent nuclear fuel is formed. In Russia, 6 units of VVER-440 reactors are operating, and they form 87 m. tons of spent nuclear fuel annually.

Some 190 m. tons of spent nuclear fuel are produced on 8 VVER-1000 reactor units in Russia annually. For reactors of this type, the nuclear fuel cycle at present is not closed: the spent nuclear fuel, after being held for 3-5 years in a holding pond, is shipped from the nuclear power plants to a centralized storage facility at the Mining and Chemical Combine (MCC), which has a capacity of 6,000 m. tons and is roughly 45% full at this point.

Annually, some 550 m. tons of spent nuclear fuel is formed at 11 Russian RBMK-1000 reactors. A deferred fuel cycle is used for RBMK reactors: the spent fuel is stored in an aqueous medium in near-reactor ponds and in free-standing spent-fuel storage facilities. Spent fuel from RBMK reactors is not reprocessed. The capacity of existing storage facilities will support the operation of the units for 4-6 years. At present, more than 9,000 m. tons of spent nuclear fuel is being stored at nuclear power plant sites. The spent RBMK fuel is not being removed from the nuclear power plants. The removal will be effected after the creation at the nuclear power plants of equipment for cutting irradiated fuel assemblies into two bundles of fuel rods and the creation of the requisite transportation infrastructure. After 2005, it will be necessary to see that the fuel is taken in at the MCC dry-storage facility.

Annually, the BN-600 reactor produces 6.2 m. tons of spent fuel, which, after being held, is sent for reprocessing to the RT-1 plant. A closed nuclear fuel cycle for uranium is in place for spent fuel of this type. At present, some 66 m. tons of spent fuel are in holding ponds.

Two AMB reactors were shut down in 1989. The spent fuel was removed from the reactors and is now being kept in cans in dry canisters (190 m. tons of spent fuel in 5,000 irradiated fuel assemblies) and in wet storage at the Mayak Production Association (76 m. tons of spent fuel in 2,200 irradiated fuel assemblies).

The design-basis operating life of four EGP-6 reactors at the Bilibino nuclear power plant ends in 2004. The total volume of removed spent fuel is 164 m. tons. Two of the existing holding ponds are already full. The possibility and necessity of removing the spent EGP reactor fuel to the federal storage facility is under consideration.

Under the Conceptual Framework in place in Russia, spent nuclear fuel is to be reprocessed. In that context, useful reprocessing products (uranium, plutonium) are used both for fabricating fresh nuclear fuel and in various sectors of industry and medicine (isotopes).

Given the priorities of safety and economy, it is necessary to develop new spent-fuel reprocessing technologies that will support fractionation, conditioning, environmentally safe storage, and, subsequently, disposal and/or transmutation of radioactive elements.

Something fundamentally new is to be able to abandon the separation of pure plutonium from spent fuel and thereby preclude the very possibility of its being used for military purposes. It is not at all necessary to remove from fuel that which does not interfere with the operation of the reactor, and that, according to Minatom's Conceptual Framework, dramatically simplified the work involving radioactive waste. "In addition to fissile elements in the fuel, we suggest leaving other elements in that are now being separated in radiochemical reprocessing. This pertains to the recycling of fuel. We have technologies developed that make it possible to employ irradiated fuel in practical terms with very little technological processing, for fuel for a future generation reactors. That, specifically, is where the slogan to the effect that spent nuclear fuel¾irradiated nuclear fuel¾is the energy of the future came from.¹⁴

At present, Russia has built up a technological potential that guarantees the safety of personnel, the environment, and the public in connection with the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. That potential is based on many years of experience in reprocessing the spent fuel from Russian and foreign nuclear power plants and the fuel from reactors of nuclear-powered submarines.

The radiochemical reprocessing of a broad range of spent fuel is being done at present at the RT-1 plant of the Mayak Production Association. The design-basis capacity of the plant in terms of VVER-440 spent fuel is 400 m. tons a year. The reprocessing of spent fuel is accompanied by the formation of liquid radioactive waste that is sent for solidification. At present, the plant uses a technology for fractionating radioactive waste and separating radionuclide fractions, primarily cesium and strontium. The recycled uranium produced at the RT-1 plant is used for fabricating fresh nuclear fuel. Plutonium for power-engineering is being warehoused at the moment, and more than 30 m. tons of its has accumulated. In the future, plutonium for power-engineering, like weapons-grade plutonium, which exceeds defense needs, is to be burned as part of the fuel for nuclear power plants with fast and thermal-neutron reactors.

The RT-1 plant has been functioning for 25 years now, and its equipment is showing physical wear and needs to be replaced. The possibility of expanding the range of vehicle- and research-reactor fuel to be reprocessed is being considered. The creation at RT-1 of the technical capability for reprocessing the spent fuel of VVER-1000 reactors opens the possibility of receiving spent fuel from foreign reactors for reprocessing.¹⁵

In the future, plans call for spent nuclear fuel to be reprocessed at the RT-2 plant at MCC. A design has been developed for the combine for a 33,000-m. ton "dry" storage facility for spent fuel for Russian nuclear power plants with RBmk-1000 and VVER-1000 reactors.¹⁶

The strategy for expanding the country's nuclear complex for the period up to 2025-2030 consists, as it were, of two parts. The first period, which runs to 2010, can be defined as the time for generating solutions to key questions involving the management of the spent fuel of the nuclear sector, and the subsequent years are the period for implementing those solutions.

The program for the management of the spent fuel of power-engineering, vehicle-based, and research nuclear installations, which is intended to prepare for the implementation of a closed nuclear fuel cycle in Russia, calls for the following:

· increasing the capacity of MCC's existing storage facility for the spent fuel of VVER-1000 reactors to 9,000 m. tons;

· building a 33,000-m. ton dry-storage facility at MCC for the spent fuel of VVER-1000 and RBMK-1000 reactors;

· completing the construction at the Mayak Production Association of a storage facility for the spent fuel of VVER-1000 reactors and creating additional transportation equipment;

· renovating the Mayak Production Association's existing RT-1 plant with an eye to precluding the release of low- and medium-level radioactive waste into the Techen Cascade and Lake Karachai and setting up the reprocessing of spent fuel from VVER-1000 reactors, with the construction of a storage facility for power-engineering plutonium and an underground laboratory for performing research involving the safety of the disposal of high-level waste from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel;

· building the RT-2 plant at MCC for the production of reactor fuel from recycling byproducts, as well as a complex for the underground isolation of high-level waste.

An important condition for the implementation of the Conceptual Framework is to ensure funding of outlays for future periods, including outlays for the management of spent fuel and the decommissioning of nuclear power plants and other facilities. Those outlays must be funded through the creation of special accumulation funds. They are being formed by a decision of the Government of the Russian Federation at the behest of RF Minatom. Foreign investors are funding work to implement the conceptual framework on the basis of equity participation that complies with the law.

Given the design-basis and beyond-design-basis studies in place for the construction of all the facilities enumerated above, as well as for implementing the related R&D program, the next 20-25 will require investment amounting to more than US$3.6 billion, including $170 million for the R&D program.¹⁷

Technologically, Minatom is prepared for the work, and there should be no doubt that everything will be done on a level that meets the very latest safety requirements.

7. Importation of spent nuclear fuel into Russia

A good many problems have cropped up in Russia as a result of things that enterprises of the nuclear sector did in the 1940s and 1950s. Solving those problems¾which involve spent fuel and radioactive waste that built up as a result of past defense-related activities, as well as newly formed spent fuel and waste¾does not seem possible, given the shortage of budget funding, and monies need to be attracted from foreign-economic activities. And as the RF minister for atomic energy, Acad. A.Yu. Rumyantsev, said, "This is a very profitable and well-established business....Spent nuclear fuel is a valuable raw material, and its reprocessing is extremely profitable in economic terms...."¹⁷

As indicated above, the total amount of spent fuel that has accumulated in the world stands at some 270,000 m. tons. Given that some of the spent fuel produced in the future will be reprocessed, the predicted amount of spent fuel to be stored will be around 230,000 m. tons in 10 years.

Today, every sixth reactor in the world operates on fuel from the Open JSC TVEL, which is the largest domestic producer of fresh nuclear fuel. That percentage could grow markedly if a move is made to supply fuel to foreign nuclear power plants on a lease basis.

RF Minatom feels that it can reasonably claim that it reprocesses and stores 10% of the entire world's irradiated fuel, i.e., about 20,000 m. tons. Depending on contract terms, the price for reprocessing spent fuel ranges from $800 to $1,500 per kg. If spent fuel is reprocessed, and radioactive waste is returned to the owner of the fuel, that is roughly US$600-800 per kg, and if it is reprocessed and recycled in Russia, it rises to $1,500 per kg. That is why, in the calculations, the average price per kg is taken to be $1,000; and the price for the entire project could bring the country around US$20 billion. The figure of $20 billion that RF Minatom could earn on the market for services involving the reprocessing of spent fuel was reached as a result of many years of painstaking analysis of the situation on the world market for services involving the management of spent fuel and deliveries of fresh fuel.

At present, under international agreements, Russia imports spent fuel from foreign nuclear power plants built with Russian (or Soviet) designs. The international Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (adopted at the Vienna Convention on 4 September 1998) makes the distinction between spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. It affirms the immense significance of international cooperation for purposes of enhancing the safety of the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste on the basis of bilateral and multilateral treaties and agreements. International cooperation involving the provision of services to countries that have difficulty managing spent fuel and, primarily, countries with which joint projects are in place is being maintained in that context.

On 10 July 2001, RF President V.V. Putin signed a package of laws that enable Russia to enter the international market for the storage and reprocessing of spent fuel. A legislative base has been created that provides for the nonproliferation of nuclear materials and the solution of environmental and safety problems, as well as problems involving the opportunities for the delivery of spent fuel. The Law of the Russian Federation "On Special Environmental Programs for Reclaiming Radiation-Contaminated Areas" has been adopted, and amendments have been made to the Russian Federation laws "On Protection of the Natural Environment" and "On the Use of Nuclear Energy." The Edict of the President of the Russian Federation "On the Special Commission on Issues Involving the Importation of Irradiated Foreign-Produced Fuel Assemblies into the Russian Federation" has also entered into force. The laws define the standards according to which spent fuel entering Russia for lengthy processing-related storage and reprocessing should be managed.

The strategic goal that RF Minatom pursued in introducing amendments to the laws "On Protection of the Natural Environment" and "On the Use of Nuclear Energy" was to earn around $20 billion in the next few years and use that money to solve numerous acute economic and social problems, including environmental problems, that are facing the country.

Those three laws create a legal base for the management of foreign-produced spent nuclear fuel for the formation and implementation of special environmental programs involving the reclamation of radiation-contaminated areas and the improvement of the environmental situation in regions of Russia. Those laws make it possible for Russia to enter the international market for the reprocessing of spent fuel.

The federal law "On the Use of Nuclear Energy" No. 170-FZ, passed in November 1995, was the basis for the beginning of the energetic work on the part of the Russian nuclear-fuel producer Open JSC TVEL to expand its presence on the nuclear markets of Western Europe and Asia. Contracts were signed on the basis of that law for the delivery of fuel to Chinese and Indian nuclear power plants. There was no need at that time to clearly spell out in the law standards that regulate Russia's participation in the international market for the management of spent nuclear fuel.

The new law "On the Insertion of Amendments into the Federal Law 'On the Use of Nuclear Energy'" clearly stipulates the article of importation into Russia. Specifically, the document introduces two concepts: the "fuel assembly of nuclear reactors," and the "irradiated fuel assembly of nuclear reactors." According to the law, irradiated fuel assemblies of nuclear reactors will be imported for "temporary processing-related storage and/or reprocessing" for "extracting valuable components from them."¹⁸

The new wording makes it possible to preclude the possibility of a loose interpretation of the law and define the standards according to which spent nuclear fuel entering Russia for reprocessing should be managed, [sic] The technical concepts are spelled out in the law extremely precisely: "a fuel assembly of a nuclear reactor is a mechanically engineered article that contains nuclear materials intended for producing thermal energy in the nuclear reactor through a controlled nuclear reaction; irradiated fuel assemblies of a nuclear reactor are fuel assemblies that have been irradiated in a nuclear reactor and have been removed from it and that contain irradiated nuclear fuel."

The second federal law of the "nuclear package" is the law "On the Insertion of Amendments into Article 50 of the Law of the RSRSR 'On Protection of the Natural Environment.'" It removes obstacles in the path to the importation into Russia of spent nuclear fuel for the purpose of storing it and reprocessing it. The document establishes a qualitative difference between an article of importation (nuclear raw material) and radioactive waste, the importation and storage of which is categorically prohibited in Russia. The importation of spent nuclear fuel into Russia from other countries for purposes of its further disposition is possible solely if a number of fundamental conditions are observed. The conditions presume the performance of statе-administered expert reviews and, most important, require a technical substantiation of the overall reduction of risk of radiation effects. The outcome of the new measures called for by the law must be a general enhancement of environmental safety in the Russian Federation.¹⁹

The cited laws provide RF Minatom with the legal basis for implementing projects that can be used to implement the requirements of the last "nuclear" law, "On Special Environmental Programs for Reclaiming Radiation-Contaminated Areas." That law, which has a clearly articulated social thrust, provides for the creation of a number of programs aimed at reducing the overall radiation risk and improving the environmental situation in regions of Russia in which the level of radiation effects is rather high.²⁰

Simultaneously with the approval of the three laws, the president signed the edict "On the Special Commission on Issues Involving the Importation of Irradiated Foreign-Produced Fuel Assemblies into the Russian Federation," in keeping with which a commission is created that will control the importation into Russia of foreign spent nuclear fuel. The commission consists of five representatives each of the president, the Federation Council, the State Duma, and the Government. Above all, the commission must have, in addition to the enumerated representatives, Russian specialists in the area of nuclear technologies, power engineering, ecology, and environmental protection.²¹

The adopted laws are serving to expand the country's nuclear sector and are making it possible for Russia to enter the world market with its own high-level technologies; they also provide potential support to the domestic producer.

The next stage in the creation of a legal basis for the importation of spent nuclear fuel into Russia is the preparation of so-called subordinate legislation. This is a whole set of regulatory documents that must define the mechanism of action of the laws. For example, the importation into Russia of spent nuclear fuel from foreign nuclear power plants for temporary processing-related storage and reprocessing will be regulated by the specially developed Rules for Importation of Irradiated Fuel Assemblies of Foreign Nuclear Reactors, which rules conform to prevailing law and are approved by the 11 July 2003 Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 418.²² The Rules for Importation call for the following:

- entry by the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the country supplying the irradiated fuel assemblies into a treaty that regulates the basic terms of cooperation, the rights and obligations of the parties in the disposition of the irradiated fuel assemblies, and the foreign-trade contracts to be entered into pursuant to the treaty by organizations specially authorized by the Government of the Russian Federation;

- fulfillment of specific conditions regarding the importation into the Russian Federation of the irradiated assemblies for purposes of temporary processing-related storage;

- rules for monitoring the timely return of irradiated assemblies and reprocessing products to the state of the supplier, and the agencies in the Russian Federation responsible for doing the monitoring.

A unified integrated project that consists of the appropriate technical documentation and a project involving a related environmental program undergoes state expert reviews¾including a state environmental review¾that present findings on the economic, environmental, and technical conditions for the implementation of the integrated project. It is at this stage that the overall reduction of radiation risk is substantiated. If the reviews present positive findings, a foreign-trade contract is entered into.

Also regulated are the rules for funding special environmental programs for reclaiming radiation-contaminated areas. Developed for that purpose were Regulations that were approved by the 22 September 2003 Resolution of the Government №588.²³ The Regulations define the rules and priorities in funding special environmental programs.

A total of 75% of the foreign exchange coming from the foreign-trade operations involving the irradiated nuclear-reactor fuel assemblies and the products of their reprocessing is specified for funding special environmental programs.

The Regulations name the Russian Federation federal executive agencies responsible for selecting the special environmental programs and the basic criteria they must be guided by.

The volume of foreign-exchange revenues under the contract and the areas in which the received money is to be spent are established by the federal law on the federal RF budget for the next fiscal year.

When the contract is implemented, the foreign exchange is entered to a special account of a special-purpose budget fund of RF Minatom and is spent in the following areas:

- implementation of special environmental programs;

- current expenditures of enterprises and organizations for the implementation of the contract for services involving the disposition of the irradiated fuel assemblies;

- allocations to budgets of Russian Federation entities in which the enterprises for the disposition of the irradiated fuel assemblies are located;

- expenditures of future periods.

The authorized foreign-trade organization and RF Minatom enterprises that handle the irradiated fuel assemblies are engaged in the practical implementation of the contracts under the state control of executive agencies of the Russian Federation and entities of the Russian Federation. Control is effected through the issuance of licenses and special permits, as well as mandatory reporting for each of the permit documents issued.

A report on the income and expenditure of the monies from the special-purpose budget fund of RF Minatom is submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation and to the Government of the Russian Federation. An audit of the activities of the special-purpose budget fund is performed annually by the Audit Chamber.

State sponsors of special environmental programs annually send to RF Minatom, which performs the functions of state sponsor-coordinator, drafts of budget requests for the funding of programs included in the unified project.

The first batch of spent nuclear fuel (2,000 m. tons or under) housed in safe containers that meet all international standards and regulations will be transported to the Krasnoyarsk Kray, to the Mining and Chemical Combine, where it will be stored in the existing "wet" storage facility, and then a new "dry" storage facility that will house the rest of the spent fuel to be brought in will be built in the very same place with some of the money received.

The spent fuel brought in will be stored in safe, monitored storage facilities for 30-50 years. After storage, when most of the fission products will decay naturally, some of the fuel will be returned, and some will be recycled and used in the nuclear fuel cycle.

By 2020-2025, no more than 20,000 m. tons of foreign spent fuel is expected to have been brought into Russia. The volume of spent fuel received in Russia from abroad will not exceed 50% of the volume of Russia's spent fuel. The radioactivity of all the spent fuel being stored in Russia will be half that in America and less than in France or Japan.

Russia has created a fleet of special railcars and containers that conforms to IAEA transportation safety norms, and it has garnered a great deal of experience in transporting the spent nuclear fuel of nuclear power plants, vehicle and shipboard units, and research reactors. Most of the spent-fuel hauling is done by rail in special overpacks designed for a given type of spent fuel, in special container cars. Each shipping container is inspected before and after loading at the nuclear power plant, as well as before and after it is unloaded at the destination. Preventive inspections of the containers are done on a regular basis, as is general repair under quality assurance programs; the containers are also tested on the basis of IAEA norms.

There are three types of containers, depending on the activity level of the radioactive substance being transported: industrial types A and B, and, since 1996, type C, for transporting highly radioactive materials by air.

In connection with the problem of counteracting radiological terrorism, including in the transport of radiation materials, a technical policy needs to be developed, as does a program of action in that area, to include determining an actual potential danger of acts of terrorism on the transport, developing regulatory technical and organizational requirements for countering such acts and minimizing their effects and creating new functions for ensuring a response to such acts or imposing a structure on existing functions.²⁴

The reprocessing of foreign spent fuel will enable Russia to get a real source of funding not only for building nuclear power plants that are more modern and safer, but also for implementing broad, environmental-protection measures.

8. Future management of spent nuclear fuel

Specialists estimate that the amount of spent fuel accumulated by 2050 will be equivalent to the consumption over a span of 50 years of from 4 million to 5 million m. tons of natural uranium.²⁵ By 2025, natural uranium with a production cost of $40/kg or under will apparently be depleted. Uranium with a higher cost will begin to be produced and sold, which will affect the demand for recycled uranium, and then plutonium. Today, recycled uranium with a U-235 enrichment of less than 1% is useless: the fuel gotten from it after enrichment and purification is more expensive than natural uranium. That is why most of the recycled uranium is sitting in warehouses in France and Great Britain.^26,27. But when the price for natural uranium rises, recycled uranium will be in demand.

Furthermore, the price for electrical power produced at nuclear power plants with fast reactors and nuclear power plants with thermal neutron reactors is becoming comparable. Since the cost of the fuel in the cost of "nuclear" electricity amounts to some 20-30%, a rise in the price of natural uranium by 2- to 2.5-fold above the current $30/kg will raise the price for electrical power by 10-15%. For that reason, the price of electrical power from both slow-neutron and fast-neutron reactors will become the same, since the price for fuel for fast reactors will not change. It is more important that the new fast reactors will be more economical. That is why, after 2020-2025, it is the construction of fast reactors that will be intensified throughout the world.

After 2075, when, as expected, all the natural uranium (with a price of $130/kg) will be burned off, the increase in the capacities of nuclear power-engineering throughout the world will be due to fast reactors only. That will make it necessary to increase the capabilities for reprocessing spent fuel. It should be emphasized that Russia and the other countries of the CISС are in a better position in terms of uranium reserves than is, for example, the United States or France and Great Britain. Russia and the CIS have 21.5% of the world's reserves of uranium, whereas the United States and Canada have 21 %; but the capacities of the nuclear power plants in the CIS amount to 35GW, whereas those in the United States and Canada amount to 111 GW.

Calculations show that if, by 2075, mankind requires increasing the total capacity of nuclear power plants by 2.5- to 3-fold (to 1,000-1,200 GW from 400), by that time it will need to reprocess virtually all the spent fuel that has been produced and use the extracted plutonium solely for the initial charging of fast reactors.

Thus, it is most probable that, before the end of the XXI century, most of the spent fuel will be reprocessed to make use of the uranium and plutonium. It is possible that only the spent fuel from reactors such as RBMK and CANDU, as well as certain research reactors, will be disposed of without reprocessing. And that is exactly what justifies the importation into Russia of some amount of foreign spent fuel for the purpose of storing it for 25-40 years and, when there is a demand for the end products of the recycling after that period, reprocessing it. And it is yesterday's and today's spent fuel that needs to be brought in, when it still doesn't have much burnup, as opposed to spent fuel 10-15 years from now, when burnup will be one and a half times greater, which means, consequently, that the quality of the products in the fuel will be worse.

Making the decision to dispose of spent nuclear fuel before 2025-2030 is wrong, and a decision to store the spent fuel temporarily, possibly underground, is preferable. More likely, it will be taken out for reprocessing in 2050-2075, maybe sooner.

One can anticipate the main changes and the expected stages of change in the management of spent nuclear fuel in the Russian Federation and the rest of the world.

First, and this is the most probable, it will be an increase in the amount of holding (storage) time for spent nuclear fuel of thermal-neutron reactors before it is reprocessed. That makes easier the reprocessing of oxide spent reactor fuel, particularly with a high level of burnup, through the practical solution of the problem of ruthenium-106 and curium; eliminates the problem of no demand for recycled materials; and makes it possible to involve in the reprocessing of spent fuel countries that adhere to the principle of a deferred solution.

Second, within the limits imposed by upgrades of existing technology, separation of most of the uranium in the initial phase of the process, and then separation of a mixture of uranium and plutonium in the ratio required for fabrication of uranium/plutonium fuel, i.e., without the separate removal of plutonium, and finally extraction of fractions of transuranic nuclides.

Right now, the technological capabilities are present, and there is time (at least 10-15 years), to create a fundamentally new technology whose reprocessing-related production costs are roughly half that of the current technology. The main thing is that the price for reprocessing the spent fuel and disposing of the reprocessing-related waste, minus the price for the finished products, must be no higher than the cost of simply disposing of the spent fuel. And that is entirely realistic for the future. At the same time, the sum of the risks associated with reprocessing the spent fuel and disposing of the radioactive waste must be lower than the risk of simply disposing of the spent fuel.

A priority in the creation of new technologies for reprocessing spent fuel, particularly in Russia, is the creation of economical schemes for producing the end products of the recycling of uranium/plutonium fuel, recycled purified uranium, and oxides of americium and curium. The lower the production cost of the final stages of the technology, with a price that is less than the price for a product obtained from natural uranium, the cheaper the basic reprocessing of the spent fuel will be and the more economical and attractive it will be overall.

We feel that uranium/plutonium fuel needs to be fabricated at large installations (around 10 m. tons of plutonium per year) by means of vibrocompacting with the addition of uranium nano materials and possible pre-reactor sintering of the fuel in the ready fuel rod. The enrichment of recycled uranium for foreign countries, with removal of the even uranium isotopes, will need to be done on special installations with centrifuge technology at RF Minatom plants, with return of uranium-232 to the suppliers. Such a technology, as well as the capacities of Russian separation plants, will enhance the liquidity and quality of recycled uranium. By 2020-2030, i.e., by the time the prices for uranium have risen considerably, the natural uranium reserves at the disposal of the countries of the CIS, together with the capacities for reprocessing recycled uranium, will give those countries an advantage on the uranium market.²⁵

As far back as 1974, a special IAEA research project "showed that the safest system for setting up the nuclear fuel cycle is a system of regional and international centers. That will make it possible to create radiochemical plants of from 750 to 3,000 m. tons of uranium a year, as well as plants for the fabrication of fuel rods made of recycled nuclear fuel."²⁸

The services offered by Russia in terms of the importation of spent nuclear fuel for 20-30 years of storage and subsequent reprocessing are one way of realizing the above-cited IAEA initiative, but in a new, modern form, which improves the economy of the closed nuclear fuel cycle.

Only the joint efforts of nuclear countries will ensure the development of safe nuclear power for the world, nuclear power that solves the problem of radioactive waste and nonproliferation.

References

1. Nuclear power plants of Russia. Moscow, Rosenergoatom, 2002.
2. Atom-PRESSA newspaper, №53 (580), December 2003.
3. Report of Rosenergoatom for 2003
4. "Basic principles underlying operations of ROSENERGOATOM involving centralized control of nuclear power plants and ensuring their safety. Policy announcement." Atom-PRESSA newspaper, №7 (534), February 2003.
5. Resolution of Government of Russian Federation, 21 July 1998, No. 815.
6. Bulletin of ROSENERGOATOM, №12 (49), 2003.
7. Energy strategy of Russia for period up to 2020, approved by 28 August 2003 directive of Government of Russian Federation, № 1234-r
8. Bulletin of ROSENERGOATOM, №5 (28), 2002.
9. Interview with Minister of Russian Federation for Atomic Energy, A. Yu. Rumyantsev, 29 December 2003. RF Minatom press service.
10. Federal special-purpose program "Energy-Efficient Economy," 17 November 2001 directive of Government of Russian Federation, №796
11. Bases of RF Minatom environmental policy. Information bulletin. No. 1 (8). Nuclear and radiation safety of Russia. Ministry of Russian Federation for Atomic Energy. Moscow, 2003
12. Agapov, A.M., Strel'nikov, Ye. A. "Upgrading the automated system for monitoring radiation conditions." Atom-PRESSA newspaper, №49 (576), November 2003.
13. Conceptual Framework for the Management of the Spent Nuclear Fuel of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy. Layman's description. RF Minatom press service. 2003
14. Answers to questions of users by first deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy, V. Ivanov. RF Minatom press service. 2002.
15. Atom-PRESSA newspaper, №1-2 (528-529), January 2003.
16. Atom-PRESSA newspaper, №12 (539), March 2003.
17. Spent nuclear fuel: Opinions of a VIP PERSON. Rumyantsev A.Yu., RF Minister for Atomic Energy. RF Minatom press service. 7 March 2003
18. Federal Law passed 10 July 2001, №94-FZ "On the Insertion of Amendments into the Federal Law 'On the Use of Nuclear Energy,'" Rossiyskay gazeta newspaper, 13 July 2001, № 132 (2744).
19. Federal Law passed 10 July 2001, №94-FZ "On the Insertion of Amendments into Article 50 of the Law of the RSRSR 'On Protection of the Natural Environment,'" Rossiyskay gazeta newspaper, 13 July 2001, № 132 (2744).
20. Federal Law passed 10 July 2001, №94-FZ "On Special Environmental Programs for Reclaiming Radiation-Contaminated Areas," Rossiyskay gazeta newspaper, 13 July 2001, № 132 (2744).
21. Edict of the President of the Russian Federation, 10 July 2001, №828
22. Resolution of the Russian Federation, 11 July 2003, №418 "Rules for the Importation into the Russian Federation of Irradiated Fuel Assemblies of Nuclear Reactors," Rossiyskay gazeta newspaper, 17 July 2003, № 142 (3256).
23. Resolution of the Russian Federation, 22 September 2003, №588 "On the Funding of Special Environmental Programs for Reclaiming Radiation-Contaminated Areas."
24. Information bulletin. No. 4 (11). Nuclear and radiation safety in Russia. Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy. Moscow, 2003
25. Nikipelov B.V. "The past and some thoughts on spent nuclear fuel." Byulleten' po atomnoy energii [Bulletin on Atomic Energy], 3 March 2003
26. Report of V.B. Ivanov at the September 2000 meeting of the Government of the Russian Federation.
27. Nikipelov B.V., Nikipelov V.B. "Fates of recycled uranium." Byulleten' po atomnoy energii, 2002, № 9.
28. Zemlyanyukhin V.I., Il'yenko Ye.I., Kondrat'yev A.N. et al. Radiokhimicheskaya pererabotka yadernogo topliva [Radiochemical reprocessing of nuclear fuel]. Мoscow: Energoatomizdat [Publishing House], 1989.

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* CUP, the capacity utilization factor, is determined with the following formula:

CUP =

where E is the actual generated electrical power, in millions of kWh;

P is the installed capacity of the power plant (power-generating unit), in millions of kW;

T is the calendar time of the reporting period, in hours.