The Planning, Licensing, Modifications, and Use of a Russian Vessel for Shipping Spent Nuclear Fuel by Sea in Support of the DOE RRRFR Program
The Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return (RRRFR) Program, under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative, began returning Russian-supplied high-enriched uranium (HEU) spent nuclear fuel (SNF), stored at Russian-designed research reactors throughout the world, to Russia in January 2006. During the first years of making HEU SNF shipments, it became clear that the modes of transportation needed to be expanded from highway and railroad to include sea and air to meet the extremely aggressive commitment of completing the first series of shipments by the end of 2010. The first shipment using sea transport was made in October 2008 and used a non-Russian flagged vessel. The Russian government reluctantly allowed a one-time use of the foreign-owned vessel into their highly secured seaport, with the understanding that any future shipments would be made using a vessel owned and operated by a Russian company. ASPOL-Baltic of St. Petersburg, Russia, owns and operates a small fleet of vessels and has a history of shipping nuclear materials. ASPOL-Baltic’s vessels were licensed for shipping nuclear materials; however, they were not licensed to transport SNF materials. After a thorough review of ASPOL Baltic’s capabilities and detailed negotiations, it was agreed that a contract would be let with ASPOL-Baltic to license and refit their MCL Trader vessel for hauling SNF in support of the RRRFR Program. This effort was funded through a contract between the RRRFR Program, Idaho National Laboratory, and Radioactive Waste Management Plant of Swierk, Poland. This paper discusses planning, Russian and international maritime regulations and requirements, Russian authorities’ reviews and approvals, licensing, design, and modifications made to the vessel in preparation for SNF shipments. A brief summary of actual shipments using this vessel, experiences, and lessons learned also are described.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1004222
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-10-19847; TRN: US1100639
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: PATRAM 2010,Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7SR UK,10/03/2010,10/08/2010
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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