News
Publish date: April 10, 1997
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
The salaries to workers at Russian nuclear power plants are regularly delayed for 1-1,5 months. In 1996 nuclear power consumers covered only 1.87 percent of their 2.3 billion USD debts to "Rosenergoatom", the state controlled company which operates all nuclear power plants in Russia. By the beginning of 1997 the debts had increased by another 700 million USD.
As a consequence, a number of strikes hit Russian nuclear power plants last year. The criminal statistics among nuclear plants employees are increasing, while discipline has reached low levels.
According to available statistics, 70 % of the accidents on nuclear objects, including the Chernobyl accident, are due to human error. In the Navy, which operates most of the reactor installations, social conditions are far worse than at the civilian power plants. Submarine officers and workers at the naval repair yards, where salaries may be more than half a year in arrears, are neglecting their professional responsibilities while worrying about how to feed their families.
In Severodvinsk, where the situation is worse than ever, there has been several cases of nuclear terrorism threats from vengeful workers demanding payment. At the Polyarny yard on the Kola Peninsula, workers twice ran blockades last year, preventing recently repaired nuclear submarines from departing until overdue payments arrived from the Navy.
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.