Ukraine plans to stop sending its spent nuclear fuel to Russia next year after opening a storage depot at the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the state operator of atomic power plants said Wednesday.

"If nothing extraordinary happens, next year we will not deliver anything for storage in Russia," the acting head of Energoatom, Petro Kotin, said in a statement.

The ex-Soviet country of some 40 million people has four operational nuclear power plants which provide about half of its electricity.

Of the four, only the Zaporizhzhia plant -- the largest in Europe -- has its own storage depot for spent nuclear fuel.

Ukraine, which has been fighting separatists backed by the Kremlin in its east since 2014 following Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula, pays Russia $200 million per year for storing the spent fuel, an Energoatom spokesman told AFP.

According to Energoatom's statement, the operator completed the first part of the new depot for storing spent nuclear fuel in the Chernobyl exclusion zone earlier this month.

Energoatom said that US energy equipment and systems supplier Holtec International supported the construction.

It added that it plans for the depot, which is meant to last for a century, to intake the first spent fuel in May next year.

In 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant left swathes of Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus badly contaminated and led to the creation of the exclusion zone roughly the size of Luxembourg.

The Chernobyl station continued operating even after the world's worst nuclear disaster, finally closing in 2000.

Ukraine recently announced plans to get the area included on the UN culture agency UNESCO's heritage list alongside landmarks like India's Taj Mahal or Stonehenge in England.

Related Links
Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Russian nuclear-powered ship turns back after emergency repairs
Moscow (AFP) Dec 16, 2020
A Russian nuclear-powered cargo ship bound for Antarctica has been forced to turn back after sustaining damage, and will bypass Europe before undergoing repairs, state nuclear agency Rosatom said Wednesday. Green activists have expressed concern that the vessel will be sailing past several European countries on its way home during the winter storm season. The Sevmorput vessel had to turn around on December 2 and is travelling towards the Russian port city of Saint Petersburg at a speed of 10 kno ... read more