The United Nations atomic watchdog Thursday said it co-ordinated the repatriation to Russia of 2.5 metric tons of nuclear waste from a reactor in Serbia that was once considered one of the world's most dangerous.
The United Nations atomic watchdog Thursday said it co-ordinated the
repatriation to Russia of 2.5 metric tons of nuclear waste from a reactor in
Serbia that was once considered one of the world's most dangerous.
In the biggest operation of its kind, more than 8,000 spent fuel
elements--including 13 kilograms of highly enriched uranium--were shipped from
a 1950s Soviet-built research reactor just outside Belgrade to a secure Russian
facility Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.
The material from the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences had posed
"potential security and environmental threats" the watchdog said.
"This was a very complicated project. We had to involve governments,
contractors, and non-governmental organizations," said IAEA chief Yukiya
Amano, describing the operation as "a great success."
The transfer began on Nov. 18, when 16 shipping containers holding the fuel
were loaded on heavy cargo trucks at the Vinca Institute.
A convoy of both trucks and trains then transported the fuel from
Serbia
via
Hungary
to
Slovenia
,
arriving at the
port
of
Koper
on
Nov. 21.
There, the containers were loaded on a cargo ship which then began a three-week
journey to
Russia
's
Arctic port at
Murmansk
.
From there, the fuel was then carried by train to
Russia
's
reprocessing facility at Mayak, where technicians will now separate the
still-usable uranium from the spent fuel and store the remaining nuclear waste
for future safe disposal, the IAEA said.
The total distance traveled was about 8,000 kilometers and the overall cost of
the operation amounted to $55 million, most of which was put up by
Serbia
and
international donors, the IAEA said.
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