Russia, Norway and USA Must Sign International Agreement to Protect the Arctic

A new international agreement is essential for the future cooperation of the Arctic defense departments of the USA, Norway and Russia. Murmansk Region Governor Yury Yevdokimov and Norwegian Deputy Minister of Defense Gunnar Heloes came to this conclusion at their meeting in Murmansk. The Governor's press office told Rosbalt that they had discussed plans for the Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation (AMEC) international programme of cooperation between the Arctic defense departments.

Yury Yevdomikov told Gunnar Heloes of the necessity to finish construction of the storage platform at the state-run enterprise Atomflot (Murmansk) this year. After the installment of the storage platform the transportation process of processed nuclear fuel will be much faster.

The AMEC programme, which Russia, Norway and the USA have been running since 1996, has attracted substantial financial support and high technologies to decommission nuclear submarines. One of the prime tasks connected with the storage and transportation of processed nuclear fuel has been completed - the vessel which will help to provide the ecological safety of the transportation process has been designed.