News
Publish date: September 16, 1997
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
Employees and scientists of the Russian Federal Nuclear Centre “Arzamas-16” and several other closed nuclear cities started protest actions today, reports RIA News.
The strike in Arzamas-16 (in Sarov city, Nizhniy Novgorod county) was prompted by three months’ salary arrears. The state’s salary-debt to the city amounts to approx. half a million USD. The workers’ protest was expressed through a gathering after workhours, since formally they are not allowed to perform strikes.
Similar actions for similar reasons were reported for a number of other “closed atomic cities” of the Urals in Russia.
The city of Sarov is host to the All Russia Research and Development Institute of Experimental Physics, initially founded in 1946 to conduct research on atomic weapons. While some weapons research still continues, the institute today is looking to diversify its activities to include non-military projects with a commercial application.
Throughout the past year, our mission at the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center has focused on two key, but intertwined issues—nuclear and radiation safety as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, and the worldwide influence of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, which itself is actively involved in the war and has participated in the occupation of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
At the beginning of the year, reports in the German and Russian press suggested an approximate 70% increase in uranium imports from Russia to Germany in 2024. But does this reflect broader European trends? It does not. Overall, imports of uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia to Western countries actually dropped sharply in 2024. Unlike the situation in Germany, this is already an established trend.
A Lingen, Germany plant could begin producing nuclear fuel in cooperation with a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, which is directly involved in the war in Ukraine and occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.