News
Publish date: December 1, 1998
Written by: Thomas Nilsen
News
The Russian type VVER-1000 reactor in Bushehr is supposed to be completed in 2004, a deal which is expected to bring Russia $800 million. So far, Russia has received $50 million of this, according to a news brief held by the Russian Minister for Nuclear Energy, Yevgeny Adamov, last week. The new plans to build three additional VVER-640 reactors could bring Russia between $3 billion and $4.5 billion.
The VVER-640 reactors is the newest press-water reactors of Russian design, like those which are planned to be buildt at the Kola-2 nuclear power station in the Arctic. So far, no reactor of the VVER-640 type has been completed.
Non-proliferation an issue
Both United States and Israeli officials say they oppose any co-operation with Iran’s nuclear sector, because such projects could help Iran develop nuclear weapons. Russia, on the other hand, says the reactors are purely for peaceful purposes. The U.S. State Department expresses deep concern about the new Russian – Iranian agreement, referring to Iran’s potential program for equipping their ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. According to the original agreement between the two countries, signed in 1995, Russia promised to assist Iran on education of specialists, construction of uranium mines and facilities for uranium enrichment.
Adamov says the West’s criticism of the deal is groundless: "Put the concrete information on the table or sack your agents, because if politicians make statements that I can say are lies, it means that the intelligence is setting them up," Adamov said in reference to the U.S. and Israeli allegations.
There is no information about what plans Iran has for the spent nuclear fuel from the planned new reactors. Theoretically, the spent fuel can be reprocessed and plutonium for weapons can be produced, but Iran has neither the scientific nor the technologic means to do so today.
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.