Russians Protest Lax Security At Nuclear Waste Sites

Date: December 12, 2002

Source: News Room

Russian environmentalists have urged their government to focus on strengthening security at the nation's nuclear dumpsites and coping with the environmental damage arising from Soviet-era nuclear programs, rather than importing radioactive waste from abroad. Russian nuclear waste depots are built above ground, making them more vulnerable to terrorists, and new nuclear dumpsites planned by the government are also to be located above ground to minimize construction costs. The government insists that all of the country's nuclear facilities are duly secured, but environmentalists noted that until recently, the Zheleznogorsk waste depot, which holds about 3,520 tons of nuclear waste, was protected only by a shaky barbed wire fence.

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