One of the key objectives of the projects for decommissioning of nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities and rehabilitation of territories is to protect public health from the effects of ionizing radiation. For example, as a result of the reclamation of the waste dump of the low-grade ore factory and four tailing ponds of the Taboshar industrial site in the Republic of Tajikistan, the radiation background in the perimeter of the site was normalized to natural values; the old factory structures were dismantled and contained, the height of the uranium dump was reduced from 65 to 35 meters, and the dump and tailings were covered with a three-layer protective screen. The project was implemented by specialists of CDTI JSC - one of the decommissioning integrator’s competence centers.

With the support of the decommissioning integrator, master’s degree programs in decommissioning have been established at the country’s leading universities - Lomonosov MSU and NRNU MEPhI - to train qualified personnel. The Company is also one of the organizers of a series of grant educational events to improve the level of knowledge of Russian and foreign working specialists - ‘International Schools on Radiochemistry’ on the site of MSU. The integrator’s experts also give lectures on decommissioning to students at NRNU MEPhI.

Every year, the number of nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities in the world increases due to the end of their useful life. The decommissioning integrator and the organizations in its control loop are continuously improving and creating new decommissioning technologies and creating new jobs for a growing order book. Thus, for AECP JSC, decommissioning and RAW management activities have become a new serious business that makes a significant contribution to the company’s profit, which contributes to the growth of the region’s economy.

The integrator on the basis of CDTI JSC develops digital decommissioning technologies and creates digital as-built engineering and radiation models of nuclear facilities. Thus, 3D modeling tools were applied within the framework of the project on decommissioning of the Radiochemical Plant of SCIP JSC. A ‘digital twin’ of the plant site was created with detailed characteristics: quantity and types of radioactive waste, volume of contaminated equipment and steel structures. Digital as-built engineering and radiation models allow for an informed decision when choosing a decommissioning scenario: demolition, delayed dismantlement or in place entombment. Creation of a ‘digital twin’ of a facility with a radiation component is a unique competence of the nuclear decommissioning integrator, not only in the Russian Federation but also in the world.

The company focuses on implementing projects to decommission nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities in the regions where Rosatom operates. A mandatory condition for decommissioning work is compliance with high requirements for radiation safety and environment protection, which ensures the environmental sustainability of cities and settlements. We duly and timely fulfill our commitments to eliminate nuclear legacy of any complexity, without passing them on to future generations. For example, the project to decommission U-5 plant building at Bochvar VNIINM in Moscow, where the first plutonium was produced in the Soviet years.

One of the main objectives of the decommissioning integrator is the development of advanced technologies and setting up high-tech R&D. VNIINM JSC, the integrator’s scientific competence center, has developed an innovative technology for waterless decontamination of overalls for handing radioactive substances. Cleaned overalls can be reused, reducing the consumption of disposable personal protective equipment. Also at our sites - AECP JSC and SCIP JSC - we operate complexes for processing of metal waste contaminated with radioactive substances. After decontamination, the refined metal is returned to industrial circulation and reused.

The decommissioning integrator’s activities are aimed at ensuring the safety of the environment, including offshore areas. For example, Atomflot FSUE, a stakeholder in the business line, unloads spent nuclear fuel from the reactor units of ships being disposed of. The disposal of spent nuclear fuel, as well as the decommissioning of, for example, nuclear icebreakers, excludes contact of spent nuclear fuel with the marine environment. In 2021, Sibir nuclear-powered icebreaker was scrapped for the first time in Russia.

Ensuring the safety of territories and lands in the regions where nuclear industry enterprises operate is one of the key tasks of the decommissioning integrator. Until recently, accumulated radioactive waste had been disposed of at the sites of enterprises. The task of forming a system of safe radioactive waste management is solved by the stakeholder of the business line - the National RAW Management Operator. The enterprise creates specialized radioactive waste disposal sites using the cutting-edge engineering barriers to protect the environment and soil from ionizing radiation, and radioactive waste of different activity. One of such projects was a near-surface disposal site for class 3-4 radioactive waste near Novouralsk.

The decommissioning integrator has been cooperating for many years with international organizations - the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Representatives of the integrator are members of working groups of international projects, such as MIRDEC - decommissioning of medical, industrial and research facilities, where they represent Russian technologies and share experience. The global partnership in the field of peaceful atom and joint work on projects allows to more effectively address the countries’ challenges in the field of nuclear and hazardous decommissioning facilities and RAW management.