POLITICS-RUSSIA: Moscow Defends Its Atomic Safety Record

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Sergei Blagov

MOSCOW, Sep 13 2000 (IPS) - In the aftermath of Kursk submarine disaster, nuclear safety has become an issue, not only of grave international concern, but also of impassioned discussion in Russia.

Russia’s Nuclear Power Ministry “Minatom” argues the country’s nuclear sector is safe – though recent incidents such as nuke plant shutdowns suggest otherwise.

Minatom also says efforts to retrieve the distressed sub should be put off and the vessel should be left in the Barents sea so as to forestall radiation leaks likely to occur during salvage operations.

Nuclear Power Minister, Yevgeny Adamov, said Tuesday that the Kursk submarine’s reactors were automatically shut down and hence do not pose a threat to the environment.

“Ecology factors do not require to raise the submarine,” Adamov told reporters in Moscow. However, experts say attempts to raise the Kursk could affect its nuclear reactor and leak radiation.

Former Russian naval officer, Alexander Nikitin, warned Tuesday that the salvage to retrieve the bodies could damage the Kursk’s hull so that it may break apart during the raising, leaking radiation.

Within the past five years Nikitin has been accused of – and prosecuted for – alleged treason for writing a report on Russia’s nuclear submarine fleet safety issues for the Norwegian environmental group Bellona.

Only on Wednesday, Russia’s Supreme Court finally acquitted Nikitin, dropping all charges. In his report, Nikitin called the Kursk’s reactors the safest in Russia’s fleet.

Nonetheless, deputy Prime Minister, Ilya Klebanov, said Tuesday that divers will start retrieving the bodies of the 118 crew members from the sunken nuclear submarine, Kursk, by the beginning of October, and the vessel will be raised next year.

The ongoing discussion on nuclear safety also results from the fact that, in the aftermath of the Kursk demise, other worrying incidents followed, raising further concern over the state of Russian nuclear safety.

Notably, on Sep 9, a failure in the electricity grid forced the shut-down of several nuclear reactors in the Urals, including secret Mayak reprocessing plant involved in manufacturing nuclear weapons.

Adamov claimed that there was no danger at Mayak and the Beloyarsk civilian nuclear power plant in near-by Sverdlovsk region.

“Unplanned shut down occurred without any trouble, let alone harmful emissions, and it may be viewed as a proof of good safety standards at the Russian nuclear facilities,” Adamov said.

Minatom-managed Chelyabinsk-65 Reprocessing Plant, or NPO Mayak, is the biggest nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the world.

In the past it used to be a site of a series of dangerous accidents. In 1957 a high-level waste storage facility exploded with widespread contamination and over 10,000 people were evacuated.

In a yet another worrying incident, in a dispute over unpaid bills, a Russian power company cut off power to a strategic missile base in Ivanovo region some 100 kilometers northeast of Moscow.

The military retaliated by sending armed troops to seize a switching station and turn the lights back on.

Prime Minister, Mikhail Kasyanov, lashed out at those responsible for the cut-off, saying it was not permissible since military bases – notably those with nuclear weapons – must remain operational, according to government regulations.

Apart from the dangerous incidents, Russia now faces a longer term safety problem as its existing nuclear waste storage facilities are getting closer to being filled to capacity.

Minatom is planning a new nuclear waste storage site in a remote northern regions – to be built either on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the far north or the Chukotka Peninsula in the far northeast.

There is no date set, yet, for beginning the construction, and the cost and capacity of the site have not been finalised: nor has the government earmarked funds.

The irony is that Russia, facing immense challenges in disposing nuclear waste, now is moving toward creating a new, now civilian, source of waste.

Adamov confirmed that Russia still plans to build its first floating nuclear power plant and anchor it off the remote northern Chukotka Peninsula.

The plant is going to be built in Pevek, nine time-zones east of Moscow, to provide energy to the Chukotka region in the Far East. It is to consist of two pressurised-water reactors, submarine-type, mounted on a barge.

It will replace a thermal power plant, which has been operating for more than 40 years, and consumes more than 100,000 tons of coal annually.

Used fuel would be stored on the barge, and every 13 years of its projected 40-year lifetime the plant would be towed to the port of Murmansk, about a 4,000-kilometers (2,500-mile) one-way trip, for repair and fuel reloading.

A second floating plant could appear off the Taimyr Peninsula over the next few years, according to Adamov.

Also, Minatom still wants to earn money by reprocessing and storing other countries’ nuclear waste, promising to use part of the proceeds to clean up the mess.

But Russia’s NGO and environmental activists are highly critical of these plans, saying Russia has enough of its own waste problems and must not become the world’s nuclear dump.

Minatom’s widespread practice of irresponsible handling of radioactive waste causes more questions than answers, according to Natalia Mironova, head of Movement for Nuclear Safety, a Chelyabinsk-based NGO.

Russian law forbids the importing of radioactive waste or nuclear materials from other countries for long-term storage or burial.

Only the countries with Russian-built nuclear power plants can send nuclear waste to Russia – in line with bilateral deals.

Nevertheless, Minatom has offered to reprocess 10-12 billion US dollars worth of nuclear waste from around the world at its Chelyabinsk plant.

Minister Adamov has, reportedly, offered to take nuclear waste from Switzerland, Germany, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan and eventually Japan, according to the environmental organisation Greenpeace.

These days Minatom is trying to push through an amendment that will allow it to take in thousands of metric tonnes of spent nuclear fuel.

For the purpose, Minatom has drafted a bill “on reprocessing and storage of nuclear fuel.”

Russian NGOs – notably those from the regions affected by nuclear incidents and careless disposal of waste – have urged the State Duma, the lower chamber of Russian parliament, not to pass legislation sought by Minatom.

Last November, Russia’s State Committee for Environmental Protection, refused to approve the bill as detrimental to “Russia’s ecological security.” However, last May the Committee was axed in the course of government reform.

Adamov also defends uranium deals between Russia and the US, arguing that the proceeds are used to improve the country’s nuclear safety records.

The deal is known as HEU-LEU. For a nuclear bomb, uranium has to be enriched so that it contains 90 percent U-235. This is high- enriched uranium or HEU.

By contrast, uranium fuel is low-enriched uranium or LEU. The United States has agreed to buy 500 tonnes of highly enriched uranium from Russia to fuel American commercial nuclear power reactors.

“Thanks to HEU-LEU, in 2000 Russia’s combined funding of nuclear safety programs reached two billion rubles (70 million dollars), which is many times higher compared to previous years,” Adamov said.

However, it remains to be seen whether Russia could manage to tackle its huge nuclear safety problems – just relying on HEU-LEU – with a backdrop of continuing economic slide.