International Conference on Research Reactors:
Safe Management and Effective Utilization

14-18 November 2011, Rabat, Morocco

During the RA research reactor’s nearly 25 years of operation, more than 2.5 tons of irradiated fuel elements were generated and temporarily stored in the spent fuel storage pond within the reactor building. Because the storage lacked adequate conditions for long-term storing, a number of fuel elements lost their tightness, which led to fission products release into water at the storage pools. Specific design of the fuel elements and the fact that a number of them were in poor condition, necessitated repackaging of these elements into new canisters, designed specifically for transportation in the TUK-19 and SKODA VPVR/M transport casks. At the beginning of 2002, the Government of the Republic of Serbia issued a directive to permanently shut down the RA research reactor at the “Vinca” Institute of Nuclear Sciences in Belgrade, and decided to repatriate all fresh high enriched uranium fuel elements and all spent low and high enriched uranium fuel elements used during entire exploitation of this reactor. After four years of negotiations and planning, in September 2006, a contract for the repatriation of the RA reactor’s spent fuel was signed. The parties involved included consortium of Russian companies led by the R&D Sosny Company, the “Vinca” Institute of Nuclear Sciences and the Technical Cooperation Department of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Efficient planning and otganization, including extremely good cooperatioon with many international organizations and institutions, followed up with substantial financial help provided by several countries, enabled successful completion of this task. Nearly four years later, at the end of 2010, the spent fuel elements left Serbia, bound for the Russian Federation.

Top