Nuclear Imports Said to Threaten Russian People

LONDON (Reuters Health) - Russian academics and environmentalists expressed concern this week that three bills allowing imports of spent nuclear fuel to the country, which received final approval of the Lower House of Russian parliament this week, could threaten public health.

If they pass the Upper House, the bills will allow imports of up to 1,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel annually, roughly equivalent to the amount now produced by its own power plants and those in neighboring Ukraine, which sends fuel for reprocessing.

The imported fuel would then be stored for 20 years while Russia finishes upgrading its existing reprocessing facilities using revenues from importers, which could include Taiwan, Japan, China, Iran and countries of Central Europe. Reprocessed fuel can be used again, leaving a small quantity of unusable radioactive waste.

Opponents warn that accidents with the imported fuel could threaten national security and may crucially affect public health. They say that the safety and reliability of storage conditions are unclear, and that the proposal could lead to an ecological catastrophe equal to or bigger than that in Chernobyl, further damaging public health.

``Mass imports of spent nuclear fuel mean unavoidable catastrophic consequences for the ecology that will threaten the lives of Russians for centuries to come,'' says a letter signed by members of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the liberal Yabloko party and one of the main opponents of the bill, urged the chamber to reject the law for future generations' sake.

``The vote today can make history,'' Yavlinsky told parliament. ``One hundred million Russian citizens are against it and only 500 people are for--300 members sitting here and 200 bureaucrats who will be getting the money.''

The international environmental group Greenpeace immediately called on US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) to ban all shipments of spent fuel to Russia from US-made reactors around the world, which would drastically reduce Moscow's prospective customer base since plant designers have a say in how waste from reactors is treated.

``Without US support, the whole grandiose Atomic Energy Ministry program shrinks down to the simple old Soviet practice of taking back spent fuel from the Socialist brother countries,'' Greenpeace International said in a statement.

The major bill approved on Wednesday proposes amendments to Russian environmental protection law. The second defines details of storage of nuclear materials, and the third specifies distribution of funds between special programs for improving the environment in territories polluted with radioactive waste.

The Russian Atomic Energy Ministry promises to channel up to $7 billion for funding ecological projects.

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