News
Publish date: September 29, 1999
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
A crowd of Westerners and Russians were celebrating for another successive time completion of a liquid waste processing facility in Murmansk on September 28. The last event of similar nature took place in Murmansk in late 1998. The problem is that the facility is still not operative.
Established in 1994 as a trilateral program between the U.S., Norway and Russia, the aim of the project was to upgrade an existing liquid waste processing facility situated at nuclear powered icebreakers base, Atomflot, in Murmansk. The existing facility is capable of processing 1,200 cubic meters a year. When upgraded, the facility will have the capacity to take on 5,000 cubic meters of liquid radwaste annually. The project’s price tag is put at $3.5 million. The political goal behind the project was to have Russia sign the London Dumping Convention.
The processing is based on a sorbing technology. The sediments produced during processing will be put into concrete at a plant that is a part of the facility.
There have been numerous deadlines set for the facility completion the past few years. None of them were met. Tax exemption problems for the funds transferred to Russia, disagreements among the partners were named among the reasons.
Today, the Russian side says that the testing of the facility will start before the year 2000 when small portions of liquid waste with varying content will be processed. The full operation of the facility will hopefully start some time during 2000. No particular deadlines are set this time, said Murmansk Shipping Company officials who will operate the facility.
Once commissioned, the facility will be capable of processing all the liquid radwaste generated in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Counties, both by the Northern Fleet’s nuclear warships and the nuclear powered icebreakers. The only problem that may come up is the inability of the Northern Fleet to pay for processing services since the facility will be operated by Murmansk Shipping Company on commercial basis.
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.