Belarusian nuclear power plant to store radioactive waste for at most ten years

Radioactive waste will be stored at the Belarusian nuclear power plant for up to ten years. The information was released by Grigory Astashko, Deputy Head of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department (Gosatomnadzor) of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry, during a press conference held in BelTA’s press center on 17 June.

Grigory Astashko reminded that the government had recently adopted a strategy to handle radioactive waste of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. In accordance with the document radioactive waste will be stored at the Belarusian nuclear power plant for a definite period of time. “The process is limited to ten years,” remarked the official. After that it is necessary to decide on building a radioactive waste disposal facility.

The handling of the Belarusian nuclear power plant’s radioactive waste is taken into account as part of the licensing process. “The handling of waste is considered within the framework of the general license for building the nuclear power plant and it has been done already. As far as the construction of the radioactive waste disposal facility and other relevant issues are concerned, we have yet to work on it,” explained Grigory Astashko.

In turn, Gosatomnadzor Head Olga Lugovskaya added that licensing is quite a lengthy, science-intensive and labor-intensive process. “For the sake of expert evaluation of safety parameters the operating organization (the potential licensee) has to submit a set of documents also known as the safety substantiation report to the regulating agency. Among other things the report contains special sections concerning radioactive waste generated by the nuclear power plant,” explained the official.

Thus, as a condition for getting the license the enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant has to submit information about the classification of radioactive waste, its volume, and the strategy for handling it to the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry. The Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant has been granted the full license for building two power-generating units. A corrected variant of the safety substantiation report has to be prepared for the sake of getting the next license. All the matters concerning radioactive waste are thoroughly looked into as part of the licensing procedure, stressed Olga Lugovskaya.

The strategy for handling radioactive waste of the Belarusian nuclear power plant has been put together taking into account radioactive waste treatment guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The document provides for an acceptable level of protection of the nuclear power plant personnel, the population and the environment from radiation impact. Attention will be focused on preventing emergencies with radioactive consequences.

The implementation of the strategy to handle radioactive waste of the Belarusian nuclear power plant will contribute to the improvement of the system designed to handle this type of waste. It will minimize waste generation as part of the nuclear power plant’s operation and reduce operational costs involved in servicing the radioactive waste treatment system. In the future the strategy is supposed to reduce the financial burden relating to the need to maintain the safety of facilities of the radioactive waste treatment system for future generations.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build an AES-2006 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The Belarusian nuclear power plant will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2,400MW (2x1,200MW). In line with the general contract for building the nuclear power plant the first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018, with the second one to go online in 2020.