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174061
Fri, 04/08/2011 - 10:47
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Japan journalists familiarise with Russian nuclear waste ship
VLADIVOSTOK, April 8 (Itar-Tass) - Representatives of the Japanese media have had an opportunity to get acquainted with the work of the Russian ship Landysh for the processing of radioactive waste. A special excursion to the Zvezda shpibuilding plant in the town of Bolshoi Kamen, where nuclear-powered submarines of the Pacific Fleet are scrapped.
The enterprise's press service told Itar-Tass that the trip was
organised because of the major interest evoked by the Landysh work after the Japanese government turned to Russia with a request to consider the use of the floating plant on the Fukushima-1 emergency nuclear power plant.
The Landysh floating plant for liquid radioactive waste treatment has for almost 10 years been working at the Zvezda shipyard in Primorsky Territory's town of Bolshoi Kamen. It was built under the Global Partnership Programme with Japanese budget money and used in the disposal of nuclear submarines decommissioned from the Pacific Fleet.
The Landysh was built at the Amur shipyard in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the basic technology for it was supplied from the United States. In November 2001, the floating plant took its place at the Zvezda plant's pier, which made it possible to create a complete technological cycle for the processing of radioactive substances necessary for the dismantlement of nuclear submarines.
The floating factory is installed on a non-propelled barge, and is
capable of processing up to 7,000 cubic metres of liquid radioactive waste per year. After the treatment the water can even be used for breeding fish. However, there are drawbacks: the Landysh is designed to work only with low- and medium-level radioactive waste.
On Tuesday, Itar-Tass learnt at the Russian Atomic State Corporation (Rosatom) that the Landysh vessel for the processing of liquid radioactive waste (LRW) was ready to sail to the stricken Japanese Fukushima-1 NPP. The Landysh (Lily of the Valley) vessel which successfully fulfilled its tasks in scrapping written-off nuclear submarines of the Russian navy in the Far East, can be now quickly shifted to the area of the Fukushima-1, say Russian nuclear specialists.
In the opinion of the crisis centre of the Rosatom Company on the
situation in Japan, "it could render efficient aid in purifying
radiation-polluted water, accumulated in stricken power units as a result of emergency cooling of reactors". According to member of the crisis centre and director of the communications department of Rosatom Sergei Novikov, the Landysh is a fully independent complex, running without supplies from the coast.
To ensure its round-the-clock operation, it has ship power plant,
consisting of four diesel generators, stocks of fuel and water, tanks for LRW and for purified water as well as a container for temporary storage of solid radioactive waste, received as a result of the vessel's operation. Novikov emphasised that Russian nuclear specialists have rich experience of building and operating such floating ships for storing and partial processing LRW. Work on their construction started back in 1970s by the Navashino shipyards in the northwest of the Soviet Union. These vessels were mostly assigned to service nuclear icebreakers, operating in the Arctic.
In the mid-1980s, the Vyborg shipyard built and handed over to the
Soviet navy two transports to receive LRW from Soviet nuclear submarines.
Rosatom believes that accumulated experience of designing and building such boats in the Soviet Union permitted to implement successfully international obligations of Russia in building the Landysh complex for reception and purification LRW in scrapping ships and nuclear-powered submarines in the Russian Far East.
The vessel is now anchored near the Zvezda shipyards in the Bolshoy Kamen Bay. A decision on its construction was taken in 1993 to prevent discharge of LRW into the Sea of Japan, which was actively opposed by the authorities and the public at large of that country. Japan appropriated funds to build this complex under the Global Partnership programme, which taxed 35 million US dollars.
Rosatom noted that if the Japanese government decides to receive this complex to work at the Fukushima-1 power plant, "the vessel and its crew will work gratis as a charity aid to overcome aftermaths of the disaster at this Japanese power plant." "Japan helped us in resolving our problems with scrapping nuclear subs and waste from them, now it is our turn to help Japan in this difficult time after the quake and the tsunami," Novikov emphasised.
According to Tass dispatches from Tokyo, the Japanese Foreign Ministry confirmed that the Japanese government was discussing with the Russian side the question on shifting the Landysh vessel from the Russian Far East to the stricken Japanese nuclear plant, including technical details. The Japanese Foreign Ministry said in an interview with Tass that "we study the question on the shifting of the Russian complex to Fukushima-1 after examining technical details."
The enterprise's press service told Itar-Tass that the trip was
organised because of the major interest evoked by the Landysh work after the Japanese government turned to Russia with a request to consider the use of the floating plant on the Fukushima-1 emergency nuclear power plant.
The Landysh floating plant for liquid radioactive waste treatment has for almost 10 years been working at the Zvezda shipyard in Primorsky Territory's town of Bolshoi Kamen. It was built under the Global Partnership Programme with Japanese budget money and used in the disposal of nuclear submarines decommissioned from the Pacific Fleet.
The Landysh was built at the Amur shipyard in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the basic technology for it was supplied from the United States. In November 2001, the floating plant took its place at the Zvezda plant's pier, which made it possible to create a complete technological cycle for the processing of radioactive substances necessary for the dismantlement of nuclear submarines.
The floating factory is installed on a non-propelled barge, and is
capable of processing up to 7,000 cubic metres of liquid radioactive waste per year. After the treatment the water can even be used for breeding fish. However, there are drawbacks: the Landysh is designed to work only with low- and medium-level radioactive waste.
On Tuesday, Itar-Tass learnt at the Russian Atomic State Corporation (Rosatom) that the Landysh vessel for the processing of liquid radioactive waste (LRW) was ready to sail to the stricken Japanese Fukushima-1 NPP. The Landysh (Lily of the Valley) vessel which successfully fulfilled its tasks in scrapping written-off nuclear submarines of the Russian navy in the Far East, can be now quickly shifted to the area of the Fukushima-1, say Russian nuclear specialists.
In the opinion of the crisis centre of the Rosatom Company on the
situation in Japan, "it could render efficient aid in purifying
radiation-polluted water, accumulated in stricken power units as a result of emergency cooling of reactors". According to member of the crisis centre and director of the communications department of Rosatom Sergei Novikov, the Landysh is a fully independent complex, running without supplies from the coast.
To ensure its round-the-clock operation, it has ship power plant,
consisting of four diesel generators, stocks of fuel and water, tanks for LRW and for purified water as well as a container for temporary storage of solid radioactive waste, received as a result of the vessel's operation. Novikov emphasised that Russian nuclear specialists have rich experience of building and operating such floating ships for storing and partial processing LRW. Work on their construction started back in 1970s by the Navashino shipyards in the northwest of the Soviet Union. These vessels were mostly assigned to service nuclear icebreakers, operating in the Arctic.
In the mid-1980s, the Vyborg shipyard built and handed over to the
Soviet navy two transports to receive LRW from Soviet nuclear submarines.
Rosatom believes that accumulated experience of designing and building such boats in the Soviet Union permitted to implement successfully international obligations of Russia in building the Landysh complex for reception and purification LRW in scrapping ships and nuclear-powered submarines in the Russian Far East.
The vessel is now anchored near the Zvezda shipyards in the Bolshoy Kamen Bay. A decision on its construction was taken in 1993 to prevent discharge of LRW into the Sea of Japan, which was actively opposed by the authorities and the public at large of that country. Japan appropriated funds to build this complex under the Global Partnership programme, which taxed 35 million US dollars.
Rosatom noted that if the Japanese government decides to receive this complex to work at the Fukushima-1 power plant, "the vessel and its crew will work gratis as a charity aid to overcome aftermaths of the disaster at this Japanese power plant." "Japan helped us in resolving our problems with scrapping nuclear subs and waste from them, now it is our turn to help Japan in this difficult time after the quake and the tsunami," Novikov emphasised.
According to Tass dispatches from Tokyo, the Japanese Foreign Ministry confirmed that the Japanese government was discussing with the Russian side the question on shifting the Landysh vessel from the Russian Far East to the stricken Japanese nuclear plant, including technical details. The Japanese Foreign Ministry said in an interview with Tass that "we study the question on the shifting of the Russian complex to Fukushima-1 after examining technical details."
