Nineteen spent fuel assemblies that were removed from the Soviet-era Lepse floating maintenance ship have been transferred to a storage site at the Atomflot service base in Murmansk, completing the final stage of unloading spent nuclear fuel from the vessel.

Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said the fuel assemblies were transported in TUK-18 containers on board the service ship Serebryanka. Atomflot, to the north of Murmnsk, is a service base for Russia’s fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers.

In 2020, 639 damaged or distorted fuel assemblies which were deemed a radiological risk were removed from the Lepse with financial help from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.