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Russian environmentalists responded with fury yesterday to President
Vladimir Putin's decision to sign legislation allowing spent nuclear
fuel to be imported, protesting that it would turn Russia into
a dumping ground for the world's nuclear waste.
He did so in the face of overwhelming public opposition and widespread
scepticism. The new law could earn Russia as much as ?15bn from
the import of about 20,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel in the
next 10 years.
The atomic energy ministry, Minatom, successfully pushed the
plan, promising that the money earned by storing and possibly
reprocessing other countries' spent fuel would be spent on cleaning
up contaminated sites and improving safety in the nuclear industry.
But environmentalists say Russia has the worst nuclear safety
record in the world, and that its own nuclear waste is stored
in such dangerous conditions that it would be irresponsible to
increase the amount.
The preliminary plan is to send most of the spent fuel for storage
at two of Russia's biggest nuclear sites: the 40-year-old Mayak
site in the Urals and Krasnoyarsk in Siberia.
"After a series of accidents, Mayak is now considered to
be the most contaminated spot on earth," Tobias Muenchmeyer
of Greenpeace said.
"The state of both of these sites clearly demonstrates that
Russia is the worst possible place to [take] nuclear waste."
There is also concern that the money earned will not be spent
in a transparent way. Minatom has a reputation for secrecy, and
Yevgeny Adamov was sacked as atomic energy minister in March in
the face of corruption allegations.
A leaked report by parliamentary investigators claimed that he
was involved in a series of business deals connected with his
ministerial brief and environmentalists alleged that he had personal
financial interests in promoting the legislation.
Traumatised by memories of the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe, most
Russians are firmly opposed to the idea of nuclear waste imports:
an opinion poll earlier this year showed that 89% disapproved
of the proposal. The prospect of nuclear waste being carried through
the country by road and rail has caused further unease.
"This decision allows the import of radioactive waste that
will pose a threat to Russians for hundreds of thousands of years
to come. Putin is selling Russia and betraying his people,"
Vladimir Chuprov, a Greenpeace Russia energy expert said.
The leader of the liberal party Yabloko, Grigory Yavlinsky, said
the plan "harms Russia's national interests and will have
dire consequences for its future generations".
Russia hopes to import spent fuel rods from Japan, South Korea,
Taiwan, Mexico, Germany and Switzerland, undercutting the services
offered by the British and French reprocessing industries.
But Germany has already said it will not send radioactive waste
to Russia. Last month the environment minister. Jurgen Trittin,
described the plans as "an irresponsible gamble with the
health and safety of the Russian people".
Alexander Rumyantsev, the new Russian atomic energy minister,
said it would be several years before the imports began arriving,
adding: "We hope that during this time we will be able to
do intensive work to increase safety."
The plan cannot be realised without US approval. More than 90%
of the potential imports needs to be cleared by America because
it includes material of US origin. The US state department recently
criticised the legislation.
See also:
Nuclear
Waste Bill
See the original at
http://www.nci.org/01/07/12-tgu-outraged_nuc_import.htm
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