UK ready to invest $125m in nuclear subs disposal in Russian Far East

The main aim of the conference Ecological Problems of Disposal of NuclearSubmarines and the Development of Nuclear Energy in the Region is toattract foreign investments in the disposal of nuclear waste anddismantling of decommissioned nuclear submarines. As Russian Deputy NuclearEnergy Minister Valery Lebedev declared, maintenance of radiologicalsecurity is not a national but a global task, the Vostok-Media news agencyreported. "We have long been cooperating with foreigners at the NorthernFleet, and now we want to show foreign investors that there are the sameproblems here in the Far East," the deputy minister pointed out. In Lebedev's opinion, Russian specialists perfectly know the technicalaspects of the disposal of radioactive materials, and only financing isrequired from foreign partners. The most important thing is that in fact,the foreign representatives do not oppose such 'division of labor.'An official of the Department of Trade and Industry of the UK declared thathis country was ready to invest $125m in the disposal of Russian submarinesat any moment. Nonetheless, there are two conditions: British control ofthe allocation of funds and permission to analyze the process of thedismantling, which Britons will soon need for resolving a similar problemof disposal of first-generation nuclear submarines. This question is to beresolved by the Russian Foreign Ministry now. According to the Britishofficial, it has not shown adequate interest so far. .