international nuclear dump in Siberia
World news from The Times and the Sunday Times - Times Online: "JJuly 15, 2005
Alarm over radioactive waste site
By Julian Evans in Moscow
Environmentalists are opposing plans to build an international nuclear dump in Siberia
RUSSIA is seeking approval to build the first international storage facility for nuclear waste. The plan has aroused strong opposition from Russian environmentalists.
Aleksandr Rumyantsev, head of the Russian Federal Nuclear Power Agency (Rosatom), says that it makes sense to store waste in one large site rather than many small ones, which are more vulnerable to terrorist attack.
He presented the plan at a conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which the Russian Government is hosting in Moscow this week. “It is a good idea to have the facility in Russia, partly because of our space, and partly because we are the only country whose law allows it to import nuclear waste,” he said.
Since 2001 the import and storage of nuclear waste from other countries has been permitted, though only temporarily. Russia imports small amounts of waste from former Eastern bloc countries such as Hungary.
The Government says that the Zelenogorsk nuclear storage facility near Krasnoyarsk is the most likely site for the dump. It could store 8,000 tonnes more nuclear waste than it is storing now, Mr Rum- yantsev said. The Government could also use the Mayak facility near Chelyabinsk, which environmentalists claim is the most radioactive place on Earth after a nuclear disaster there in 1956.
According to the Kremlin, its plan has the support of Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the IAEA, though the agency declined to comment. An ambassador who works with the agency in Vienna said: “The idea is quite popular with the IAEA. It is a question of whether the Russian people would accept it.”
On Wednesday, Greenpeace Russia held noisy demonstrations outside the conference to protest against the plan. Vladimir Chuprov, head of its anti-nuclear campaign, said: “About 95 per cent of the population is against the plan.”
Mr Rumyantsev said: “Of course, people’s attitudes are negative. They think it is dangerous because of former crises like Chernobyl. Also, the media hype up opposition from organisations like Greenpeace.”
However, the Government’s strong approval ratings and control of television news mean it is likely to be able to secure national support for its proposal. It managed to pass the law allowing imports of nuclear waste despite a petition against it signed by almost three million Russians.
Igor Kudrik, director of Bel- lona, an environmental campaign group based in Oslo, said that the plan to build one large, high-security storage facility for international nuclear waste made sense. But he added: “Russia is not a good place for it. They have problems taking care of their own waste, let alone (that of) other countries.”
Russia and other former Soviet republics have been affected by several serious nuclear accidents, including the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, in Ukraine.
The US provides financial assistance to Russia to help it to process its nuclear waste and import waste from former Eastern bloc countries. America also provides Rosatom with about 40 per cent of its annual revenues, through a long-term contract to provide the US with uranium that Russia signed in 1993. However, that contract will run out in 2013.
The Russian Government estimated that the facility would cost more than £11 billion to set up and manage, and that it would make Rosatom about £4 billion in profits. Greenpeace and Bellona claim that the estimate of the costs of importing, storing and protecting the waste is too low and that the project could cost Russian taxpayers large amounts."
Alarm over radioactive waste site
By Julian Evans in Moscow
Environmentalists are opposing plans to build an international nuclear dump in Siberia
RUSSIA is seeking approval to build the first international storage facility for nuclear waste. The plan has aroused strong opposition from Russian environmentalists.
Aleksandr Rumyantsev, head of the Russian Federal Nuclear Power Agency (Rosatom), says that it makes sense to store waste in one large site rather than many small ones, which are more vulnerable to terrorist attack.
He presented the plan at a conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which the Russian Government is hosting in Moscow this week. “It is a good idea to have the facility in Russia, partly because of our space, and partly because we are the only country whose law allows it to import nuclear waste,” he said.
Since 2001 the import and storage of nuclear waste from other countries has been permitted, though only temporarily. Russia imports small amounts of waste from former Eastern bloc countries such as Hungary.
The Government says that the Zelenogorsk nuclear storage facility near Krasnoyarsk is the most likely site for the dump. It could store 8,000 tonnes more nuclear waste than it is storing now, Mr Rum- yantsev said. The Government could also use the Mayak facility near Chelyabinsk, which environmentalists claim is the most radioactive place on Earth after a nuclear disaster there in 1956.
According to the Kremlin, its plan has the support of Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the IAEA, though the agency declined to comment. An ambassador who works with the agency in Vienna said: “The idea is quite popular with the IAEA. It is a question of whether the Russian people would accept it.”
On Wednesday, Greenpeace Russia held noisy demonstrations outside the conference to protest against the plan. Vladimir Chuprov, head of its anti-nuclear campaign, said: “About 95 per cent of the population is against the plan.”
Mr Rumyantsev said: “Of course, people’s attitudes are negative. They think it is dangerous because of former crises like Chernobyl. Also, the media hype up opposition from organisations like Greenpeace.”
However, the Government’s strong approval ratings and control of television news mean it is likely to be able to secure national support for its proposal. It managed to pass the law allowing imports of nuclear waste despite a petition against it signed by almost three million Russians.
Igor Kudrik, director of Bel- lona, an environmental campaign group based in Oslo, said that the plan to build one large, high-security storage facility for international nuclear waste made sense. But he added: “Russia is not a good place for it. They have problems taking care of their own waste, let alone (that of) other countries.”
Russia and other former Soviet republics have been affected by several serious nuclear accidents, including the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, in Ukraine.
The US provides financial assistance to Russia to help it to process its nuclear waste and import waste from former Eastern bloc countries. America also provides Rosatom with about 40 per cent of its annual revenues, through a long-term contract to provide the US with uranium that Russia signed in 1993. However, that contract will run out in 2013.
The Russian Government estimated that the facility would cost more than £11 billion to set up and manage, and that it would make Rosatom about £4 billion in profits. Greenpeace and Bellona claim that the estimate of the costs of importing, storing and protecting the waste is too low and that the project could cost Russian taxpayers large amounts."
posted by Greta Jane at Friday, July 15, 2005
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home