News

“The Urals says NO! to nuclear waste”

Publish date: February 19, 2001

Written by: Edward Meilakh

Environmental activists organised an action in Chelyabinsk on February 19th.

The Russian environmental groups continue the campaign named Antinuclear Resistance across the country. NGOs from different regions raise their voices against new legislation which can allow import of foreign spent nuclear fuel to Russia for storage and recycling.

As a part of this campaign, an action was organised in Chelyabinsk, the biggest city on the South Ural. The environmental activists unrolled a banner "The Urals says NO! to nuclear waste" on the main city square. Everybody was welcome to leave his signature right on the banner in support of the action.

While Chelyabinsk inhabitants put their signatures and green activists explained why they protested against new legislation, the Death together with mutants appeared on the scene. The King of terror offered to take a bit of “radioactive waste” to the people and gave away “nuclear dollars” with the Russian nuclear minister Evgeny Adamov, instead of Washington. People refused to take small radioactive packages although they contained just a soil mix for plants.

The banner was completely covered with signatures in an hour. It is planned to bring it to the Russian State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, to the second hearing on the issue of the amendments to the federal laws which can allow import of nuclear waste to Russia on February 22nd.

Mayak Chemical Combine in Ozersk, Chelyabinsk region, was the main production facility for weapons grade plutonium in the Soviet Union. Today there is a reprocessing plant (RT-1) in operation at Mayak and huge amounts of radioactive waste. This place is considered the most radioactively contaminated on the earth.