Liquidation of Milliones of Tonnes of Russia's Nuclear Waste Is Priority for Ministry of Atomic Energy

The liquidation of nuclear waste is the priority for the Russian ministry of atomic energy. As a Rosbalt correspondent reports, this was announced by Russian Minister for Atomic Energy Alexander Rumyantsev in the State Duma on Wednesday March 5. He said that there are millions of tonnes of high-level and low-level radioactive waste in Russia at the moment. Most of this waste is being stored in depositories and special reservoirs.

Mr Rumyantsev emphasised that the most critical situation with storage space is at the Mayak plant at Ozersk in the Chelyabinsk Region. The minister added that there would be reconstruction at the plant which will enable it to recycle spent nuclear fuel. There are plans to allocate USD 400 million to constructing storage space, half of which will be provided by the US.

According to Mr Rumyantsev, the ministry for atomic energy is currently working on a programme to provide a security system for the nuclear plants. This is necessary to improve the current security levels and carry out technical re-equipment.