Seven more reactors to Saida storage

13.07.2010 The Nerpa naval yard has sent another seven reactor compartments from decommissioned submarines for long-term onshore storage in the Saida bay at the Kola Peninsula.

The reactor compartments were taken to Saida bay onboard a floating dock. Today, some 40 reactor compartments are stored at the new special designed concrete pad in the Saida bay west of Murmansk towards the border to Norway.

This first stage of the German-financed facility was commissioned in 2006 at a cost of more than 150 million Euros.

Another 60 reactor compartments are still waiting to be sealed off and prepared for long-term storage. They are today located at the naval yards in Nerpa and Alexandrovsk on the Kola Peninsula and at the naval yards in Severodvinsk by the White Sea. Several tens of reactor compartments are also floating in the Saida bay near the onshore storage pad.

While still floating at the different naval bases and naval yards, the submarines represented a danger of accidents or radiation leakages, and by that constituted a threat to the marine environment.

If fully funded, the Nerpa naval yard can convert up to 14 reactor compartments annually for long-term onshore storage, reports MBNews.

In addition to the concrete pad where the compartments themselves are placed, the facility in Saida will, when ready, consist of a pier for a floating dock, a repair hall where the enormous reactor compartments can be taken in-door for needed work, several auxiliary buildings, roads and external infrastructure. Already, the radiation protection system is in place.