Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUnifeed
SERBIA / NUCLEAR FUEL SHIPMENT
STORY: SERBIA / NUCLEAR FUEL SHIPMENT
TRT: 6.53
SOURCE: IAEA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 18 - 22 NOVEMBER 2010, SERBIA
1. Tilt up, from nuclear fuel drums to reactor
2. Close up, nuclear fuel drums
3. Close up, radiation tester
4. Tilt down, equipment being tested for radiation
5. SOUNDBITE (English) John Kelly, Project Manager, IAEA.
“This particular shipment has 8,030 fuel elements being repatriated. Now this is the largest single shipment that's being made at one time back to Russia. This is also the largest project of its type in the IAEA for Technical Cooperation history.”
6. Zoom out, truck backing up towards crane
7. Close up, truck backing up
8. Wide shot, shipping container being loaded onto truck
9. Close up, security guard
10. Various shots, workers securing shipping container onto truck
11. Close up, security guard with truck in the background
12. Pan left truck driving away
13. Close up, truck backing up
14. Med shot, security guards
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Yukiya Amano Director General of the IAEA:
“In the past, the United States and Soviet Union provided highly enriched uranium to other countries to be used in research reactors. HEU or highly enriched uranium could be very dangerous because if it is stolen, that can be used for dirty bombs or even nuclear weapons.”
16. Various shots, Serbian President Boris Tadic, arrives to witness departure
17. Various shots, Tadic speaking to the press and officials
18. Pan right, armed guards protecting shipment
19. Wide shot, guards
20. Various shots, truck convoy carrying shipment by road
21. Close up, police car
22. Wide shot, truck convoy carrying shipment by road
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Yukiya Amano Director General of the IAEA:
“Vinca Project was a very important one by various reasons. First, the amount was huge. It involves some three tons of spent fuel. It comprises of more than eight thousand fuel rods. It accompanies risk of environmental accident. Unfortunately, in the past, the storage condition was poor, but the current leaders recognized this risk and decided to repatriate to Russia.”
24. Various shots, Igor Bolshinsky testing shipment loaded onto trains for radiation
25. SOUNDBITE (English) Igor Bolshinsky, U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration:
“HEU is a main component of a nuclear device, of a nuclear explosive device. So, it’s why the whole world is working for non-proliferation of this material so it cannot be used by the bad guys for building nuclear devices.”
26. Med shot, security guard
27. Zoom in, train ready to depart
28. Med shot, security guard
29. Med shot, train departing
30. Med shot, shipment leaving the station
31. SOUNDBITE (English) Sam Nunn, CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI):
“We are in a race between cooperation and catastrophe. In this case cooperation won, cooperation between the United States and Russia and Serbia and the IAEA, and even a nongovernmental organization like NTI. So the good guys won this time, but it’s an example of what we have to do all over the world.”
32. Med shot, train leaving the station
Two-and-a-half tonnes of highly radioactive nuclear spent fuel arrived at a secure Russian facility in November after a multinational project performed by Serbia and coordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The material was removed from a Serbian nuclear research reactor where it posed potential security and environmental threats. This was the largest single shipment of spent nuclear fuel made under an international programme to repatriate such material to the nations that originally supplied it.
SOUNDBITE (English) John Kelly, Project Manager, IAEA.
“This particular shipment has 8,030 fuel elements being repatriated. Now this is the largest single shipment that's being made at one time back to Russia. This is also the largest project of its type in the IAEA for Technical Cooperation history.”
The delivery of the fuel ends the project to repatriate fuel from the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences outside Belgrade, where the Soviet Union had built and fuelled a 6.5-megawatt nuclear research reactor in the 1950s. The project began in 2002 when fresh highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel was transferred to Russia, and today's shipment consisted of over 8,000 spent fuel elements, including 13 kilogrammes of HEU.
SOUNDBITE (English) Yukiya Amano Director General of the IAEA:
“In the past, the United States and Soviet Union provided highly enriched uranium to other countries to be used in research reactors. HEU or highly enriched uranium could be very dangerous because if it is stolen, that can be used for dirty bombs or even nuclear weapons.”
At the last minute, Serbian President Boris Tadic arrived to give his support to this important convoy. The shipment ends more than a decade of work to move the reactor's fuel rods to Russia, which has the facilities to store the material safely and securely.
After years of planning and preparation, the Vinca project came down to a final three-day odyssey.
SOUNDBITE (English) Yukiya Amano Director General of the IAEA:
“Vinca Project was a very important one by various reasons. First, the amount was huge. It involves some three tons of spent fuel. It comprises of more than eight thousand fuel rods. It accompanies risk of environmental accident. Unfortunately, in the past, the storage condition was poor, but the current leaders recognized this risk and decided to repatriate to Russia.”
In the pre-dawn light, crews readied the train for departure. The train rumbles 800 kilometers through Hungary and across Slovenia before this cargo ship can set sail for its three week, 8,000-kilometer journey to Russia's arctic port of Murmansk As the ship leaves the dock, relief washes over all those who worked so hard, and Serbia looks to the future.
SOUNDBITE (English) Igor Bolshinsky, U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration:
“HEU is a main component of a nuclear device, of a nuclear explosive device. So, it’s why the whole world is working for non-proliferation of this material so it cannot be used by the bad guys for building nuclear devices.”
The latest fuel transfer began on 18 November, when 16 shipping containers holding the fuel were loaded onto heavy cargo trucks at the Vinca Institute. Using trucks and trains, the convoy traversed Serbia, Hungary, and Slovenia under heavy security before arriving on 21 November at the Slovenian port of Koper. There, crews loaded the containers onto a cargo ship which then began a three-week journey to Russia's arctic port at Murmansk. Back on rails, the fuel moved to Russia's reprocessing facility at Mayak, where technicians will separate the still-usable uranium from the spent fuel and store the remaining nuclear waste for future safe disposal.
SOUNDBITE (English) Sam Nunn, CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI):
“We are in a race between cooperation and catastrophe. In this case cooperation won, cooperation between the United States and Russia and Serbia and the IAEA, and even a nongovernmental organization like NTI. So the good guys won this time, but it’s an example of what we have to do all over the world.”
The IAEA has actively participated in efforts to repatriate research reactor fuel, including transfers from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Libya, Romania, and Vietnam. In addition, the IAEA is supporting efforts to help nations convert their research reactors to use low enriched uranium fuel.
Download
There is no media available to download.
