Basic Technical Details: Displacement: 5000 tonnes; Width: 23.2m; Height: 6.6m; Length: 65m; Draught: 3.5m; Processing Throughput: 7000m3/year. In October 1993, the Governments of Japan and the Russian Federation signed an Intergovernmental Agreement to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons in the Former Soviet Union. Towards achieving this goal, the Japanese Government had initially allotted $100 million towards, which was increased to $200 million in 1999. The main objective of the Suzuran project is to process low-level liquid radioactive waste, which has been in storage for some years, and prevent it from being dumped into the seas shared by Japan and Russia. The construction and completion of the Suzuran, in the Russian Far East, is the brainchild of the Japanese Government, and is the first successful international project of its kind in Russia. Suzuran neatly solves the problem of making safe the liquid radioactive waste being derived from general purpose and missile nuclear submarines of the Russian Pacific Fleet as they are decommissioned and dismantled. The project was administered by the Technical Secretariat of the Japan-Russia Committee for Co-operation on Reducing Nuclear Weapons, who appointed Crown Agents as their agent and RWE NUKEM as their Technical Consultants to manage the project on a day to day basis and oversee the tender, construction and commissioning. This project is unique and complex in that it is, in reality, two projects. Firstly, the construction of a sea-going barge and, secondly, the construction of a complex radioactive liquid waste processing facility. Changes in the Russian Radiation Regulations during the course of the project, required the design to be altered significantly; for example, the facility had to be mounted within the structure of the vessel. Numerous regulators, design and testing institutes were involved throughout the project, to ensure it complied with both Russian and International regulations. Suzuran is the only floating complex that can operate independently for up to 30 days away from base. It is also exceptional in having the greatest throughput capacity of any project of its type and in being fully actively commissioned and licensed to operate, as part of the original contract. Other similar projects, which have a lower throughput and are land-based, have been handed over prior to completion of active commissioning. The international project was particularly complex since it involved not only Japan and Russia but also a Japanese-American contractor, who subcontracted the construction work to Russian shipyards. The Amurski Shipyard at Komsomolsk-na-Amur constructed the Vessel and the processing Facility was constructed in America and shipped to Russia where it was installed on the Barge. The Barge was then towed down the Amur River and down the Russian East Coast to Bolshoi Kamen where it was inactively and actively commissioned. The completed Barge was completed and is now operating, following a one-year warranty period. The project required everyone’s close co-operation and understanding. Particularly onerous was the need to comply with comprehensive Russian regulations, both for sea-going vessels as well as for nuclear facilities. This is a success story in itself. The official Handover ceremony of Suzuran was held in November 2000 and is now operating at the Far Eastern Shipyard, Zvezda. This paper will describe the history and process involved in establishing the Barge project for the treatment of Low Level Liquid Radioactive Waste.
Low-level liquid radioactive waste treatment at Murmansk, Russia: Technical design and review of facility upgrade and expansion