Difference between revisions of "Soviet Nuclear Submarine Training Center"
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===Summary=== | ===Summary=== | ||
+ | In the 1960s Paldiski became a Soviet Navy nuclear submarine training centre. | ||
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+ | Two large submarine mock-ups with nuclear reactors were installed in a big building. It was the largest such facility in the whole Soviet Union.<ref>http://coldwarsites.net/country/estonia/soviet-nuclear-submarine-training-center-paldiski as of April 26, 2013</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | For study purposes, two nuclear reactors were also activated.<ref>http://www.estonica.org/en/Paldiski_-_Soviet_army_garrison_town/ as of April 26, 2013</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | In 1989 both reactors were shut down. Training in the study centre continued till 1993, but without the actual experience of how to work with the reactor.<ref>http://www.envir.ee/1152553 as of April 26, 2013</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | In 1995 nuclear fuel was removed from the reactors that had been halted in 1989, and they were covered by a concrete sarcophagus.<ref>http://www.estonica.org/en/Paldiski_-_Soviet_army_garrison_town/ as of April 25, 2013</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | During the Soviet time and until 1994 Paldiski was a closed military town, with 16,000 military employees. | ||
===Background Information=== | ===Background Information=== |
Revision as of 18:30, 26 April 2013
Technical Data | |
Paldiski Soviet Nuclear Submarine Training Center | |
General information | |
Owner: | Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications[1] |
Operator | A.L.A.R.A Ltd.[2] |
Location: | Paldiski, Pakri peninsula,50 km west of Tallinn |
Type of Reactor: | PWR/BM-A (Unit 1) |
PWR/BM-4 (Unit 2)[3] | |
Power Info: | 70 MW (Unit 1) |
90 MW (Unit 2)[4] | |
Fuel Enrichment: | 20 %[5] |
Refuelling and maintenance: | 1980 - 1981 (Unit 1) |
Never (Unit 2)[6] | |
Territory: | 24 ha[7] |
Safety issues | |
Decommissioning waste: | ~ 720-2070 m3 (arising from the reactor compartments)[8] |
Population of the area: | 4,372 (in January 2010) [9] |
Construction data | |
Construction started/finished: | early 1960s |
First Criticality: | April 1968(Unit 1) |
February 1983 (Unit 2)[10] | |
Last Criticality: | January 1989(Unit 1) |
December 1989(Unit 2)[11] | |
Status: | Deferred decommissioning[12] |
Summary
In the 1960s Paldiski became a Soviet Navy nuclear submarine training centre.
Two large submarine mock-ups with nuclear reactors were installed in a big building. It was the largest such facility in the whole Soviet Union.[13]
For study purposes, two nuclear reactors were also activated.[14]
In 1989 both reactors were shut down. Training in the study centre continued till 1993, but without the actual experience of how to work with the reactor.[15]
In 1995 nuclear fuel was removed from the reactors that had been halted in 1989, and they were covered by a concrete sarcophagus.[16]
During the Soviet time and until 1994 Paldiski was a closed military town, with 16,000 military employees.
Background Information
Paldiski became a Soviet territory already in 1939. It was the first Estonian area to be occupied by Soviet troops.[17]
In the 1960s, a military training centre of nuclear submarine crews was established in Paldiski. The facility included two scaled submarine mock-ups, one Delta and one Echo class, built on dry-land, each containing an operational nuclear reactor (Sinisoo 1995). Beside the reactor compartments, the main Technological Building contained a spent fuel storage pool and some associated rooms, all were radiologically contaminated.[18]
The area under the training centre was approximately 22 hectares. Both training submarines were housed within a single building in a common high bay area. The auxiliary site facilities included a liquid waste processing facility, storage buildings for solid and liquid radioactive waste, a central facility ventilation centre, cooling towers, a cooling water pump facility, a central heating plant, a radioactive laundry facility and a radiochemical laboratory.[19]
It was the largest such facility in the whole Soviet Union.[20] Locals called it „the Soviet Pentagon“.
Because of the training centre Paldiski and the town's surroundings became a closed garrison area with barbed wire around it where ordinary civilians were forbidden to enter. In its heyday Paldiski had 16,000 military employees.[21]
In 1989 both reactors were shut down. Training in the study centre continued till 1993, but without the actual experience of how to work with the reactor.[22]
Paldiski remained a closed town until the Russian army, the successor of the Soviet army, left Estonia on August 31, 1994. A few hundred men remained, to dismantle the Paldiski nuclear reactor, leaving in October 1995.[23]
Russia relinquished control of the nuclear reactor facilities in September 1995. [24]
In 1995 nuclear fuel was removed from the reactors that had been halted in 1989, and they were covered by a concrete sarcophagus.[25] This was supposed to guarantee the safety and stability of the reactors for at least 50 years.[26]
The facility is administered by A.L.A.R.A Ltd., state-owned company involved in nuclear radioactive waste management and pollution cleaning.[27].
Today most of training centre buildings are abandoned and ruined.[28] Because of its past Paldiski attracts tourists who are willing to see the ruins of former military facilities. Paldiski is sometimes named "a ghost town" due to many unhabitated buildings: the population now is 1/4 of what the town had on its heyday. Paldiski is also known because of the Swedish film Lilya 4-ever, which was largely filmed there although the name of the location does not not appear in the film.
Links
- A.L.A.R.A Ltd. (Operator): http://www.alara.ee/
- The Ministry of the Environment:http://www.envir.ee/
- Paldiski Municipality: http://www.paldiski.ee/
References
- ↑ Enn Realo, PhD, "PRACTICES AND ACTIVITIES RELEVANT TO NUCLEAR AND RADIATION SAFETY IN ESTONIA." Visit of IAEA experts, Tartu-Tallinn, 8-12 Oct 2012
- ↑ Enn Realo, PhD, "PRACTICES AND ACTIVITIES RELEVANT TO NUCLEAR AND RADIATION SAFETY IN ESTONIA." Visit of IAEA experts, Tartu-Tallinn, 8-12 Oct 2012
- ↑ http://www.keskkonnaamet.ee/public/kiirgus/3rd_JCReport_Estonia.pdf as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.keskkonnaamet.ee/public/kiirgus/3rd_JCReport_Estonia.pdf as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.keskkonnaamet.ee/public/kiirgus/3rd_JCReport_Estonia.pdf as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.keskkonnaamet.ee/public/kiirgus/3rd_JCReport_Estonia.pdf as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ Enn Realo, PhD, "PRACTICES AND ACTIVITIES RELEVANT TO NUCLEAR AND RADIATION SAFETY IN ESTONIA." Visit of IAEA experts, Tartu-Tallinn, 8-12 Oct 2012
- ↑ Enn Realo, PhD, "PRACTICES AND ACTIVITIES RELEVANT TO NUCLEAR AND RADIATION SAFETY IN ESTONIA." Visit of IAEA experts, Tartu-Tallinn, 8-12 Oct 2012
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paldiski as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.keskkonnaamet.ee/public/kiirgus/3rd_JCReport_Estonia.pdf as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.keskkonnaamet.ee/public/kiirgus/3rd_JCReport_Estonia.pdf as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ Enn Realo, PhD, "PRACTICES AND ACTIVITIES RELEVANT TO NUCLEAR AND RADIATION SAFETY IN ESTONIA." Visit of IAEA experts, Tartu-Tallinn, 8-12 Oct 2012
- ↑ http://coldwarsites.net/country/estonia/soviet-nuclear-submarine-training-center-paldiski as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.estonica.org/en/Paldiski_-_Soviet_army_garrison_town/ as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.envir.ee/1152553 as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.estonica.org/en/Paldiski_-_Soviet_army_garrison_town/ as of April 25, 2013
- ↑ http://www.aviastar.org/travel/gallery.php?dir=eesti/paldiski as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.geo.lt/geo/uploads/media/71-78.pdf as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.geo.lt/geo/uploads/media/71-78.pdf as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paldiski as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.estonica.org/en/Paldiski_-_Soviet_army_garrison_town/ as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.envir.ee/1152553 as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.estonica.org/en/Legacy_of_the_Soviet_army_in_Estonia/ as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paldiski as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.estonica.org/en/Paldiski_-_Soviet_army_garrison_town/ as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.envir.ee/1152553 as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://coldwarsites.net/country/estonia/soviet-nuclear-submarine-training-center-paldiski as of April 26, 2013
- ↑ http://www.spottinghistory.com/view/489/soviet-submarine-training-centre/ as of April 26, 2013