News
Publish date: July 14, 1998
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
The blockade of the Trans-Siberian Railroad in Kemerovo County by miners caused a train loaded with uranium to get stuck there for several days, reported Radio Free Europe. The train was on its way to the Siberian Chemical Combine located in Seversk, Tomsk County.
The Siberian Chemical Combine comprises a reactor complex. Two of the combine’s five plutonium production reactors (ADE-4 and ADE-5) are still operating. The combine is now focusing on the production of low-enriched uranium for civil fuel. The facility for blending down highly enriched uranium was commissioned in 1996.
Although unconfirmed, the train might be loaded with highly enriched weapons-grade uranium on its way to be blended down in Seversk.
The governor of Kemerovo County, Aman Tuleev, appealed to the protesters on July 13 to lift the blockade. Tuleev said the uranium train poses a major environmental threat being stuck on the tracks. The appeal did not effect the miners’ decision to proceed with the blockade.
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.