News
Publish date: May 20, 1997
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
The Russian Minister of Atomic Energy, Victor Mikhailov, visited St. Petersburg to take part in the opening of a TACIS-funded educational centre for atomic energy on May 14.
Prompted by journalists, Mikhailov claimed that the total activity of nuclear materials and radioactive wastes accumulated in Russia amounts to 1,5 billion Curie. Apparently, the minister forgot the fact that the liquid waste generated at the 13 military reactors located in Chelaybinsk-65, Tomsk-7 and Krasnoyrask-26 constitutes some 2,3 billion Curie by itself, while spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants, amounting to some 10,000 tons for the year 1995, had a total activity of 5 billion Curie. Some 80% of this fuel can not be reprocessed and has to be stored.
Waste processing and disposal projects proceed in slow motion due to the lack of proper funding. According to Mikhailov, the ministry last year allocated 20 million USD for handling of radioactive waste, while current estimates call for an annual minimum of 50 million USD. Minatom spent 350 million USD in 1996 on safety upgrades at Russian nuclear power plants.
Meanwhile, the debts of various energy consumers to the Ministry of Atomic Energy reached almost 3 billion USD by the beginning of 1997. On the other hand, in 1996 Minatom exports reached 2 billion USD, a 10% increase from 1995.
Recent attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war," the UN atomic agency's director general said last week.
After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.
In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of proven gas reserves in Russia – to raise its share in the international gas trade.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.