Rosatom intends to mothball the radioactive waste tailings dump at the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NCCP, part of Rosatom fuel company TVEL). NCCP was founded on September 25, 1948. This is one of the world’s leading nuclear fuel producers for nuclear power plants and research reactors. The plant is also one of the largest manufacturers of metal lithium and its salts in Russia.
“According to preliminary estimates, up to RUB300m ($3.4m) will be allocated to the project in the period to 2030,” said Anastasia Belikova, head of the environmental protection laboratory and deputy head of the laboratory of nuclear, radiation safety, environmental protection & industrial sanitation at NCCP. “A comprehensive survey will be carried out, design estimates will be developed, and examination will be carried out using special reserve funds from Rosatom. After 2030, implementation of the project to conserve the tailings dump will begin.”
She added that the NCCP tailings pond, which is located 7km from Novosibirsk, will be completely decommissioned over the next decade. After its conservation, the process of transferring the radioactive waste from the conservation facility to a radioactive waste disposal facility will begin, followed by monitoring for 300 years in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation.
In 2022, it was reported that an industrial waste processing complex worth more than RUB1bn been established and put into commercial operation at NCCP. This technology allowed the enterprise to stop producing the waste that would have gone to the tailings dump.
