News
Publish date: October 2, 2007
News
According to Minatom.ru, a meeting of the Russian-German Coordination Technical Committee on construction of long-term storage facility in Sayda bay took place in Murmansk on September 24th. On September 25th, participants of Russian-British and Russian-Italian cooperation met in Murmansk. The meetings were dedicated to the discussion of the ongoing projects coordination and implementation, sponsored by the donors. In particular, the work on the framework agreement between SevRAO and Nukem Limited from 23.05.2007 was discussed as well as the problems and suggestion on safety issues in Andreyeva bay temporary storage facility.
A coordination meeting on radioactive waste handling projects in Murmansk region was also held on September 25th. The participants from Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Norway and United Kingdom took part in this meeting. They discussed the current state of the radioactive waste handling in the North of Russia and suggestion of the Russian Federal Nuclear Agency to establish a united transport-technology scheme. The participants also talked about the current state of works on Regional Long-Term Storage Facility in the North of Russia and its dependence on the shipment sites (Andreyeva bay, Gremikha).
Italian and Russian specialists discussed the project implementation on erecting the shelters no.201 and no.202 at the solid radioactive waste storage facility in Andreyeva bay. The participants of the meeting examined the preparation of the contract on radiation situation improvement near shelters no.201 and no.202 and the problems connected with the process. Moreover, implementation of the project on solid and liquid radioactive waste handling facilities as well as building of the solid radioactive waste storage facility in Andreyeva bay was discussed. The representatives of the Italian companies Sogin and AC.Tek took part in the meeting.
On September 26th, the meeting of Russian-French Coordination Technical committee took place. The process of developing general declaration of intensions and justification of investments for temporary storage facility no.2 in Gremikha was discussed at this meeting. The contract on this work was signed earlier between Nuclear Energy Commissariat of France, Russian Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute", and federal state unitary enterprise SevRAO. The participants also discussed measures on safe shipment of spent nuclear fuel from Gremikha and safe working conditions for the personnel.
On September 27th, the coordination meeting of the organisations participating in the international cooperation on the projects in Andreyeva bay took place in Murmansk as well.
It was also planned to hold a meeting with the representatives of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development where a grant agreement was to be signed concerning decommissioning, rehabilitation and dismantling of the nuclear storage ship Lepse.
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.