Rosatom’s Fuel Company TVEL is completing remediation of the Taboshar industrial site in the city of Istiklol in Tajikistan, where uranium processing used to take place in the Soviet era. Work has been completed to install a protective shield on a uranium tailings dump at the factory ending the first stage The dump is now much flatter. The height of was reduced as from 65 metres to 36 metres, exceeding the design target of 45 metres.
Monitoring conducted by specialists of the Tajikistan Agency for Nuclear & Radiation Safety showed that background radiation at the perimeter of the reclaimed dump decreased tenfold to 0.2 μSv/h, which corresponds to normal values.
All the required infrastructure to support the work was built from scratch. A power line was moved to a safer area, engineering and maintenance sites were built, health and safety checkpoints for personnel were equipped, and a vehicle decontamination building was constructed. The facility also has a checkpoint and a radiation safety service.
The contractor for the work is the Central Design & Technology Institute (JSC TsPTI, part of TVEL). “The Institute carried out large-scale works to demolish old reinforced concrete structures and equipment at the factory,” said Yakov Nikonov, Deputy General Director for decommissioning of nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities and reclamation at TsPTI. “The monolithic blocks of the vat leaching shop, equipment for the crushing and screening hopper, and concrete pillars were dismantled. All large-sized scrap is insulated in reinforced concrete containers in the workshop and covered with a protective shield.” As part of the project, three more tailings will be reclaimed using similar technology. Currently, about 100 people are working at the site and more than 50 special vehicles are involved.
“Reclamation of facilities at the Taboshar industrial site is the first such project for TVEL in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), said Eduard Nikitin, director of decommissioning programmes at TVEL. Completion of the project is scheduled for the end of 2023, but it is already ahead of schedule. Completion of the Taboshar project will be an important step in strengthening cooperation with the Commonwealth countries in the field of decommissioning and rehabilitation of territories. Implementation of the project will ensure the environmental safety of the region without a “nuclear legacy” for future generations.” .
To further develop international cooperation, TVEL will hold a number of meetings of expert groups during the year in participating countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, and Tajikistan. The meetings will discuss the issues of decommissioning nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities, management of radioactive waste and used nuclear fuel, as well as the development of technical solutions and technologies, and human resources. This will result in development of a “Comprehensive Programme for Bringing Nuclear Legacy Facilities to a Safe Condition in the CIS countries”.
In 2022, the Tajikistan Ministry of Industry & New Technologies, Rosatom" and JSC TsPTI signed a contract for the development of working documentation and implementation of work to rehabilitate uranium dumps and tailings at the Taboshar industrial site. The agreement was concluded in the framework of international obligations under the interstate target programme of the CIS countries, “Reclamation of the territory of states affected by uranium mining industries”.
Image: The Taboshar site in Tajikistan (courtesy of TVEL)
