Assessment of Environmental Safety for Long Storage of Reactor Compartments Enclosing Radioactive Equipment of Nuclear Steam Supply System From Nuclear Submarines Being Utilized

Abstract

Radiation and environmental safety concerning the handling of nuclear submarine reactor compartments is the most important problem and requires steady attention and thorough investigation among the common list of unsolved problems, related to decommissioning, storage and utilization of Russian nuclear submarines, since the reactor compartments are the potential sources of radiation incidents. Total radioactivity, accumulated in the reactor compartment (with spent nuclear fuel) discharged is estimated as around 80,000 Ci for a nuclear submarine of the first generation 5 years after reactor shutdown. Spent fuel discharge removes completely the problem of reactor compartment nuclear hazard, but not the risk of radiation impacts on region ecology. After discharging the spent fuel, in each reactor compartment there is around 300 tonnes of radioactive materials of different radiation levels and types, which constitute the above radioactivity. Accordingly, the process of transfering the reactor compartments to environmentally safe state should allow to reduce (or eliminate at all) environmental risk for the region, where the nuclear submarines to be utilized are transported, or planned to be stored for long time, to the level as low as possible.