OREANDA-NEWS. June 5, 2008. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the implementing agency of Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP), and Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation are signing four implementing agreements for allocation of grants worth over 70mln EUR.

The projects will be carried out in the framework of the strategic master plan for disposal and ecological recovery of decommissioned nuclear fleet sites and auxiliary infrastructure in North-Western Russia. The projects are supposed to substantially improve the ecological situation and to enhance the nuclear and radiation safety of the area.

The biggest grant worth 43mln EUR has been allocated for the disposal of Lepse service ship with damaged spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste onboard. The vessel is docked in Murmansk. The fuel and the waste will be unloaded and processed, the ship dismantled. The project will last for five years.

The second beneficiary site is the naval base at Andreev Bay, Murmansk region, with 22,000 spent fuel assemblies of nuclear submarines and nuclear icebreakers. This project costs 20mln EUR and envisages construction of a system for transportation and safe buffer storage of the fuel. The construction of the system is part of the general plan for recovery of the site and processing or long-term safe storage of its fuel. The project will last for three years.

The third project costs 5.6mln EUR and will last for 2.5 years. The grant has been allocated for the unloading of spent nuclear fuel from Papa class nuclear submarine reactors and its storage in containers. The destruction of the reactors will be carried out by Rosatom.

The representative of Rosatom under the above three projects is the Federal Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety.

The fourth grant (5.1mln EUR, 2.5 years) will be spent on the improvement of the radiation monitoring and emergency preparedness system of Arkhangelsk region, particularly, on the introduction of modern control systems and the development of plan of actions for effectively responding to possible emergencies at local nuclear facilities. NDEP has already financed a similar project in Murmansk region.

This project will be carried out by the Administration of Arkhangelsk region with the support of the Nuclear Safety Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

All the above projects are part of the strategic master plan for recovery of contaminated territories in north-western Russia till 2025. The total cost of the projects to be carried out in the framework of the plan is 2bln EUR.

As of today, the European Commission, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium have allocated 150mln EUR for the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership.