THE MURMANSK INITIATIVE - RF: SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF CONSTRUCTION - NEXT STEP: ACCEPTANCE TESTING

“The Murmansk Initiative - RF” was conceived to address Russia’s ability to meet the London Convention prohibiting ocean dumping of radioactive waste. The Initiative, under a trilateral agreement initiated in 1994, has upgraded an existing low- level liquid radioactive waste treatment facility, increased its capacity from 1,200 m 3 /year to 5,000 m 3 /year, and expanded the capability of the facility to treat liquids containing salt (up to 10 g/L). The three parties to the agreement, the Russian Federation, Norway, and the United States, have split the costs for the project. Russia conducted all construction activities at the facility. Construction is complete. Start-up testing has been completed both in manual phase and with automation controls in effect. These start- up activities have included processing of actual radioactive liquid waste from the Arctic icebreaker fleet, and incorporation of these wastes into a cementation process of Russian design. With the completion of these activities, the requirements of the tri- lateral agreement, known as the “Oslo Protocol” have been fulfilled. This paper will report on the results of the start-up testing activities in addition to the “acceptance testing” phase of the project. The acceptance testing requires the processing of 2000m3 of decommissioned submarine LLRW over a six- month time frame. This important phase of the project began on 01 October 2000. Progress of this phase of the project, including Russian licensing activities will be reported. Discussion will also report on any modifications to the proposed operational schedule for the facility. “Lessons Learned” will be evaluated and discussed, in addition to a discussion of potential follow-on activities for this unique region of the Russian Federation.