MINSK. April 18 (Interfax) - Members of the House of Representatives of the Belarusian National Assembly on Tuesday approved a bill ratifying an agreement between the Belarusian and Russian governments on cooperation in handling spent nuclear fuel.
"The subject of the agreement is the importing of irradiated fuel assemblies of nuclear reactors into the Russian Federation for temporary technological storage and subsequent recycling, as well as the return of radioactive waste to Belarus," the BelTA state-run news agency said.
The document defines irradiated fuel assemblies of nuclear reactors as fuel assemblies of Russian origin irradiated in the nuclear reactor of a nuclear power plant (NPP) built on Belarusian territory, and such fuel assemblies containing nuclear fuel that have been removed from the reactor.
Licenses (permits) will have to be issued to carry out cooperation as part of the agreement. It appoints the Belarusian Energy Ministry and the Rosatom Russian State Corporation as official agencies, which, in turn, will appoint authorized organizations.
Under the agreement, contracts will be signed between authorized organizations on transporting irradiated fuel assemblies and their subsequent recycling. Specifically, such contracts will define the volume of cooperation, the rights and responsibilities of authorized organizations and contractors, and other conditions of cooperation.
The bill ratifying the Belarus-Russia intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in handling spent nuclear fuel, signed in Sochi on November 21, 2022, was submitted by the Belarusian government to the House of Representatives on March 7 of this year.