Russians OK law allowing nuke waste imports

Thursday, Dec. 21, 2000 | 11:20 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

MOSCOW -- Lawmakers today tentatively approved a law allowing Russia to import spent nuclear fuel rods for reprocessing, a plan that could bring the country $20 billion -- and 21,000 tons of nuclear waste.

The Russian Atomic Energy Ministry said that the money, which Russia would earn over 10 years, could be used to clean up past radioactive spills in the country.

The proposal has been in the works for years. It is fiercely opposed by environmental groups, who say it amounts to selling downtrodden Russia as the world's nuclear waste dump.

What happens to the fuel when it gets to Russia has not been fully decided. The choices, according to the proposal, are reprocessing the waste to make new fuel, storing the waste for up to 50 years then shipping it back and burying it.

It is unclear what effect Russia's plans would have on the future of Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, which the U.S. Energy Department is studying as the only site for the nation's first high-level nuclear waste repository. However, Russian officials have said they are targeting nuclear waste markets in Europe and Japan.

The Department of Energy has refused to comment on the plan.

Both Greenpeace International and the World Wildlife Fund have been protesting the Russian proposal, spokesmen for the groups said today.

Greenpeace said the promise to use profits to clean up past nuclear disasters was a public relations ploy.

The Russian Atomic Energy Ministry just wants "to get Western money for an expansion of the Russian nuclear industry, whose disregard for safety and the environment is starkly demonstrated" by past mistakes, a statement from Greenpeace said.

The Duma -- the Legislature's lower house -- overwhelmingly passed the law on the first reading, but it must clear two more readings, pass the parliament's upper chamber and be signed by President Vladimir Putin before it takes effect.

Proponents said Russia could earn much-needed foreign income by taking advantage of the country's Cold War-era nuclear facilities.

"We'll get financing and won't disgracefully beg the International Monetary Fund for money as we do now," Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov said.

The program foresees tapping the market in Europe and Asia by offering a temporary solution to the problem of spent fuel rods piling up at civilian nuclear reactors.

Nuclear power stations around the world currently have about 200,000 tons of waste in temporary storage.

For a fee, small shipments would be sent to Russia's Mayak facility in the central Ural Mountains. They would travel by rail in armored wagons.

Reprocessing extracts usable nuclear material from the spent nuclear rods while reducing their potential to be used in weapons, the Russian Nuclear Ministry has said.

Under current law, waste left over after reprocessing must be returned to the country of origin. The new measure would allow Russia to keep the waste.

France and Britain are currently the only countries operating commercial reprocessing plants.

Both Russian and foreign environmental groups object to the Russian ministry's plan, saying Russia should treat its own nuclear waste before receiving more.

A 1992 law forbids importing nuclear materials from foreign countries other than former East Bloc nations with existing contracts. Russia now treats spent fuel rods from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary under a system established during Soviet times.