As a result of a decision reached by the G7 and a German-Russian intergovernmental agreement, the German government-owned Energiewerke Nord (EWN), together with Russian's Kurchatov Institute, built a disposal centre for 150 shut down nuclear submarines of Russia's North Sea fleet in Saida Bay near Murmansk between 2006-2014. Kraftanlagen Heidelberg was tasked with supplying a metal-press-cutting system.
Among other things, the project served to transfer German practices and German technology on the disposal of nuclear plants to Russia with the primary motivation to prevent further contamination of North Sea coastal and marine waters. The subject of the order was to supply a key component of the mechanical technology related equipment and to install it in the disposal centre.
The system is mainly the type of scrap press shear that is often used in recycling plants. For this application, it is enhanced with components for the retention of airborne contamination, large dust hoods and a high-performance filter system as well as a box in which the chopped scrap is filled into storage containers.
The installation and commissioning of the system in a restricted military area of Murmansk had to be carried out by a subcontractor authorised to work there. Everything went smoothly thanks to the professionalism of the involved employees on site.
