CHELYABINSK. Jan 10 (Interfax-AVN) - The Mayak reprocessing site in Ozyorsk in the Chelyabinsk region halted operations on January 1 at the expiration on December 31 of its license to operate a facility for recycling used nuclear fuel, General Director Vitaly Sadovnikov told journalists on Thursday.
The State Nuclear Inspectorate denied a license to Mayak for 2003 for several reasons, including the dumping of medium and low radioactive wastes into Lake Karachai and the Techa Cascade in violation of the federal environmental protection law.
Sadovnikov argued, however, that the plant did not violate the law and is entitled to temporary water utilization quotas, provided by the Ministry for Natural Resources, which, in fact, allow the enterprise to dump radioactive wastes into water reservoirs from 2000 to 2005.
The plant management has drawn up a new package of documents and sent it to the State Atomic Inspectorate to acquire a license. "Pending scrutiny, we shall have to follow the inspectorate's recommendations and stop dumping radioactive wastes into Lake Karachai and the Techa Cascade."
The enterprise has therefore suspended the receipt and loading of fuel assemblies. "What remains in the uninterrupted production scheme will be used until the radioactive decontamination of chemical agents has been completed. And then we shall perform scheduled repair work," Sadovnikov said.
Delays in issuing the license may cause serious problems, including the shutdown of the nuclear power plant, if the plant's reservoirs are filled with spent nuclear fuel. It could also cause wage arrears in Ozyorsk, where the Mayak plant is vitally important for the local economy.
Sadovnikov said the State Atomic Inspectorate's decision was absolutely correct. "The State Atomic Inspectorate is helping us by placing the problem in the limelight. The government will after all have to pay attention to us," he said.
Earlier reports said Mayak's management had raised the problem of dumping radioactive wastes into the Techa Cascade at all levels. This problem was also discussed with President Vladimir Putin in Abzakovo, the Chelyabinsk region, on Sunday.
The Techa Cascade was created in the 1950s after a large- scale accident at a nuclear facility of the Mayak plant, and is intended to protect open water reservoirs from liquid radioactive wastes. Its area exceeds 70 square kilometers, and the volume of polluted water is 340 million cubic meters, with a radioactivity of over 300,000 curie. The cascade is now closed.