Planning, Preparation, and Transport of the High-Enriched Uranium Spent Nuclear Fuel From the Czech Republic to the Russian Federation. 15th International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioacitve Materials (PATRAM 2007)

摘要

The United States, Russian Federation, and the International Atomic Energy Agency have been working together on a program called the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return (RRRFR) Program, which is part of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative. The purpose of this program is to return Soviet or Russian-supplied high-enriched uranium (HEU) fuel, currently stored at Russian-designed research reactors throughout the world, to Russia. In February 2003, the RRRFR Program began discussions with the Nuclear Research Institute (NRI) in Re, Czech Republic, about returning their HEU spent nuclear fuel to the Russian Federation for reprocessing. In March 2005, the U.S. Department of Energy signed a contract with NRI to perform all activities needed for transporting their HEU spent nuclear fuel to Russia. After 2 years of intense planning, preparations, and coordination at NRI and with three other countries, numerous organizations and agencies, and a Russian facility, this shipment is scheduled for completion before the end of 2007. This paper will provide a summary of activities completed for making this international shipment. This paper contains an introduction and background of the RRRFR Program and the NRI shipment project. It summarizes activities completed in preparation for the shipment, including facility preparations at NRI in Re and FSUE Mayak in Ozyorsk, Russia; a new transportation cask system; regulatory approvals; transportation planning and preparation in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation though completion of the Unified Project and Special Ecological Programs.