Belarus, with the support of Rosatom specialists, is drawing up plans for the construction of radioactive waste disposal facilities (RWDF), including development of a digital model and personnel training. A recent meeting to discuss the plans, organised by Rosatom’s fuel company TVEL, took place at the site of the Rosatom Technical Academy. TVEL is also the industry integrator for the decommissioning of nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities and radioactive waste management.
The meeting was attended by representatives of Giredmet JSC Russia’s State Research & Design Institute for the Rare Metal Industry, part of Rosatom, which specialises in the development of new materials based on rare metals, their compounds and alloys, high-purity substances, semiconductor materials, nanomaterials and nanotechnologies. Also present were experts from a number of other specialised enterprises and organisations of the Russian nuclear industry. Belarusian experts included representatives of State Production Association Belenergo, the Belarus Nuclear Power Plant, nuclear regulator Gosatomnadzor and BelRAO (Belarus Organisation for Radioactive Waste Management).
TVEL’s Director for Decommissioning of Nuclear & Radiation Hazardous Facilities & Management of Radioactive Waste, Eduard Nikitin, said the aim was to formulate a standard solution, based on international best practice, that will help justify and select a site for the construction of a radioactive waste disposal facility both in Belarus and on the territory of other states interested in creating such a facility.
Leonid Dedul, First Deputy Head of Gosatomnadzor stressed the need to determine the site for the placement of a RWDF by 2025 in order to begin designing the facility and to begin construction by 2028-2029. “It is planned that the first stage of the radioactive waste disposal facility should be launched in 2030,” he said.
