The spent fuel of the future nuclear plant in Uzbekistan, will be processed in Russia, and radioactive waste will be stored in Uzbekistan, Uzatom said.
In the course of spent fuel reprocessing in Russia, all valuable nuclear material will be recovered, and the remainder will be solidified by evaporation and pressing, and then will be returned to Uzbekistan.
According to Uzatom, this mechanism is envisaged by a number of international treaies to which Uzbekistan and Russia are parties: Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (July 1, 1968), the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (October 26, 1979), the The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (September 5, 1997).
In accordance with the Uzbek-Russian agreement on the construction of a nuclear power plant, signed in the fall of 2018, issues in the field of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and radioactive waste (RW) management will be regulated by separate agreements and contracts, the agency noted. “Each country must store its radioactive waste on its territory,” the statement said.
It is expected that the SNF and RW management strategy will be prepared and approved in the near future taking into account the international experience.
