Senator urges nuclear waste-burial referendum in Russia

Aman Tuleyev of the Federation Council (the upper house of Russia's parliament) insists on holding a referendum on burying depleted nuclear fuel on Russian territory. Tuleyev said in a RIA Novosti interview that "2.5 million signatures have already been collected for holding a referendum to ban import and burial of nuclear fuel." The senator also cited public opinion poll figures, which show that over 93 percent Russians were for the referendum. Aman Tuleyev believes that "solution of this problem, which concerns vital interests of the entire population, cannot be taken without its direct involvement". He stressed that "specialists must tackle this problem technologically" but must not "usurp the right to discuss it in principle, conceptually and in this way snatch it from the public". He stressed that in some countries even the issues of erecting nuclear power stations were referred to a nation-wide vote. Tuleyev also said that no efficient technology of processing wasted nuclear fuel had yet been created in Russia and he feared that "all this filth will stay with us for good".

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