Tuesday, May 31, 2011

RT-1 Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Facility

The closed city of Ozersk, formerly Chelyabinsk-65, is the location of the Mayak Production Association. Mayak Production Association  refers to an industrial complex that is one of the biggest nuclear facilities in the Russian Federation.


It housed plutonium production reactors and a reprocessing plant. Mayak was the site of the third-worst nuclear accident in history (after the Chernobyl disaster and Fukushima) when an explosion in 1957 released 50-100 tonnes of high-level radioactive waste, contaminating a huge territory in the eastern Urals. The Soviet regime kept this accident secret for about 30 years.


The Mayak plant was built in 1945–48, in a great hurry and in total secrecy, as part of the Soviet Union's nuclear weapon program. The plant's original mission was to make, refine, and machine plutonium for weapons. Five nuclear reactors were built for this purpose. Later the plant came to specialize in reprocessing spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors, and plutonium from decommissioned weapons. Today the plant makes tritium and radioisotopes, but no plutonium.


This is a shop from which it starts, here come the containers with spent nuclear fuel. Specialists Unscrew the top screws special equipment. Further work is with cranes, which are controlled remotely through the camera. Cranes removed cover and remove spent nuclear fuel assemblies.



I do not know exactly what it's called, but the point is clear - a simple device to avoid drag radioactive dust from one room to another.



Staff under their feet is a swimming pool which is a temporary warehouse, with depths ranging from 3.5 to 14 meters filled with condensate.

Under the condensate can see the assembly of fuel elements from shipping reactor.





Further operations with spent fuel are in enclosed spaces in automatic mode. Each of them works on his stand-alone server, all functions are duplicated. In the case of all terminal operator will be able to complete the process from the console.

Department on work with plutonium. Eight layers of 50 mm leaded glass protects the operator from the active elements.



This is the shop, which is engaged in the shipment of finished products.

Yellow containers are designed to transport finished fuel assemblies.

The interior of the container.





Weight 40-ton !



Loading of the container in to train car.



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