ADE-5 reactor stopped

05.06.2008 // Interfax

On June 5 Siberian Group of Chemical Enterprises stopped the last ADE-5 reactor in the framework of Russian-US plutonium elimination agreement

On June 5 2008 Siberian Group of Chemical Enterprises stopped the last ADE-5 reactor in the framework of the inter-governmental Russian-US agreement for elimination of plutonium production.

This has put an end to the epoch of nuclear weapons production in the territory of Tomsk region.

«Siberian Group of Chemical Enterprises has stopped producing weapons-grade materials and has fully met its obligations to ensure global nuclear parity. From now on the company will carry out exclusively peaceful activities. In the next few years it will fully eliminate any radiation effects on the environment,» the director general of Siberian Group of Chemical Enterprises Vladimir Korotkevich.

He said that the stoppage of ADE-5 was a historic event for the whole nuclear power industry.

In Apr 2008 SGCE stopped ADE-4 reactor and is preparing it for decommissioning: presently it is defueling the reactor.

In Mar 2003 the Ministry of Atomic Energy of Russia and the Department of Energy of the United States signed an agreement for elimination of plutonium production at ADE-4 and ADE-5 reactors in Seversk, Tomsk region, and ADE-2 reactor in Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk region.

Siberian Group of Chemical Enterprises is the only complex of nuclear technological cycle in Russia. It produces hexafluoride and enriches uranium for foreign companies and TVEL OJSC, depletes highly enriched uranium, releases chemical products and stable isotopes. The group comprises seven plants, a thermal power plant, a research institute, a design bureau and a number of auxiliary structures.