A New Russian Waste Management Installation

The Polyarninsky Shipyard (sometimes called Navy Yard No. 10 or the Shkval Shipyard) has been designated as the recipient for Solid Radioactive Waste (SRW) management facilities under the Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation (AMEC) Program. The existing SRW storage site at this shipyard is filled to capacity, which is forcing the shipyard to reduce its submarine dismantlement activities. The Polyarninsky Shipyard Waste Management Installation is planned as a combination of several AMEC projects. It will have several elements, including a set of hydraulic metal cutting tools, containers for transport and storage, the Mobile Pretreatment Facility (MPF) for Solid Radioactive Waste, the PICASSO system for radiation monitoring, and a Waste Storage Facility. Hydraulically operated cutting tools can cut many metal items via shearing so that dusts or particulates are not generated. The AMEC Program procured a cutting tool system, consisting of a motor and hydraulic pumping unit, a 38-mm conduit-cutting tool, a 100mm pipe-cutting tool, and a spreading tool all mounted on a wheeled cart. The vendor modified the tool system for extremely cold conditions and Russian electrical standards, then delivered the tool system to the Polyarninsky shipyard. A new container for transportation and storage of SRW and been designed and fabricated. The first 400 of these containers have been delivered to the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy for use at the Polyarninsky Shipyard Waste Management Installation. These containers are cylindrical in shape and can hold seven standard 200-liter drums. They are