PROJECT FOR ESTONIA

In the city of Paldiski (Estonia) located on the coast of the Baltic Sea occupied by the Soviet regime, a Navy Training Center was established at the beginning of the sixties, which was used for training the nuclear submarine crew members. In fact, the Center located two operational nuclear submarines including the reactor units. The reactor units were intended for training the submarine crew members in the conditions close to actual on submarines.

The decision to shut down the training centre in Paldiski was made by the government of Estonia immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. By 1995, a number of measures were implemented to ensure the long-term safety of the reactor compartments. In 1999-2001, as part of the European project, the concept of decommissioning the training center was adopted, which provided for maintaining the reactor compartments for about 50 years followed by their complete dismantling and cleaning of the site to a "green" lawn. A state-owned company AS A.L.A.R.A was appointed to manage and decommission the former nuclear facility under the management of the Ministry of Economy and Communications of Estonia which is the Contracting Authority of all works. The main strategic documents in the field of radioactive waste management include the National Plan for Development of Radiation Safety for 2008-2017 and 2018-2027 and the National Action Plan for Radioactive Waste Management.

As part of implementation of the National Action Plan for Radioactive Waste Management starting from July 2022 JSC KIEP together with the Lithuanian company UAB EKSORTUS, which is the Main Contractor for AS A.L.A.R.A. under the contract "Development of a conceptual design and performance of a safety analysis of further decommissioning of training reactor facilities in the city of Paldiski, Estonia", performs the work aimed at the final dismantling of reactor compartments:

• Visual inspection of the building and accessible structures of conserved reactor compartments;
• Justification of the strategy selected for achieving the ultimate goal of decommissioning the building with reactor compartments;
• Selection of the most optimal tactics for dismantling the reactor compartments and the building in which they are located;
• Development of a dismantling plan for the reactor compartments by defining the required infrastructure;
• Development of the "Safety Assessment Report" with selection of the most acceptable option for dismantling the reactor compartments including both normal conditions of work performance and potential external and internal impacts and emergencies;
•  Development of a "Safety Case" with relevant justifications.

When performing the Project the JSC KIEP experts Mrs. T.Yu. Baibuzenko (Technical Director) and Mr. O.L. Fomenko (Director for Development and Management) visited the site of the Training Center in Paldiski from May 2 to May 5, 2023 for additional inspection of equipment and structures of the reactor compartments, the radioactive waste storage and other auxiliary facilities and equipment. They participated in the Project progress meeting and reported on the state of Project documentation development within responsibility of JSC KIEP.

The participants of the meeting, namely: the representatives of AS A.L.A.R.A. and Lithuanian partners highly assessed the quality of work performed by JSC KIEP considering development of documentation in English. In particular, the partners from the European Union noted that the JSC KIEP work was carried out under difficult war conditions caused by the Russian Federation in Ukraine, and despite this, the completion dates have been met by JSC KIEP as required by the Contract. Based on the results of the meeting the decisions were made regarding the further work under the Project. The work will progress. The decommissioning of the “cold war“ military facility will be carried out according to Estonia and EU actual legislation on nuclear and radiation safety.