OREANDA-NEWS. July 15, 2011. The Northern Federal Enterprise for Radioactive Waste Management, SevRAO, (Gremikha, Murmansk Region), which is an affiliate of Rosatom, carried out a unique operation to unload a liquid-metal-cooled reactor from the Project 705 Alfa nuclear submarine reactor compartment.

 For the first time in history, the damaged reactor was removed with the fuel in.

 The company said the operation had been successful. The 52-ton reactor filled with an anti-degrading agent was lifted by a bridge crane and placed into a special protective envelope.

 The submarine reactor will stay in this vessel for about six months during which fuel rods will be extracted from the earlier sealed unit.