Large Surface Storage Facility for Liquid Radioactive Waste: AddressingSafety Justification Challenges

The Techa Cascade of water reservoirs (TCR) is one of the most environmentally challenging facilities resulted from FSUE “PA Mayak” operations. Its reservoirs hold over 360 mln m3 of liquid radioactive waste with a total activity of some 5∙1015 Bq which is about 0.1% of the total radioactivity released from the Chernobyl accident and occupy an area equivalent to roughly the size of 7,000 football fields. A set of actions implemented under a special state program involving the development of a strategic plan aimed at complete elimination of TCR challenges (Strategic Master-Plan for the Techa Cascade of water reservoirs) resulted in considerable reduction of potential hazards associated with this facility. The report summarizes the key elements of this master-plan: defining the facility’s final state, feasibility study of the main strategies aimed at its attainment, evaluation of relevant long-term action plans, development of computational tools enabling the long-term forecast of TCR behavior depending on various engineering solutions and different weather conditions.