U.S.-RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT-TO-GOVERNMENT MPC&A UPGRADES AT THE BELOYARSK NUCLEAR POWER PLANT AND SF NIKIET

During the sixth meeting of the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission (GCC-6) held in Washington, DC, in January 1996, the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) and the Sverdlovsk Branch of NIKIET (SF NIKIET), a research institute, were made available for cooperative projects on Material Protection, Control, and Accounting (MPC&A). BNPP is the site of three power generating reactors. Units 1 and 2 are graphite-moderated reactors that have been shut down and defueled. Unit 3 is a BN-600 600 megawatt (MW) electric breeder reactor that provides heat and electric power. SF NIKIET, a nuclear research facility that shares a common perimeter with BNPP, is the site of a 15-MW pool-type research reactor. An initial site survey and assessment were conducted in June 1996 to establish communication between BNPP and SF NIKIET and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the participating U.S. National Laboratories. This paper describes the status of the cooperative MPC&A work and also planned activities. Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) are responsible for coordinating Material Control and Accounting (MC&A) upgrades, and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is responsible for Physical Protection (PP) upgrades. MPC&A upgrade activities are concentrated on the fresh and spent fuel storage areas at BNPP and at the fresh and spent fuel storage and material handling facilities at SF NIKIET.