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MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's lower house of parliament on Wednesday
quickly approved a controversial proposal that would permit the
import of other countries' nuclear waste for reprocessing.
Russia's Atomic Energy Ministry says it could earn up to 20 billion
by importing 20,000 metric tons (22,000 short tons) of spent nuclear
fuel over 10 years - and use part of the money to clean up Russian
regions polluted by radioactive waste from the Soviet-era nuclear
program.
"I am voting for this bill because I don't want places in
my country remaining dead zones, contaminated by radiation,"
said Deputy Yegor Ligachev, a Communist and a former member of
the Soviet Union's ruling Politburo.
But opponents said the measure would make Russia the world's
nuclear dump, and question whether the money will be used as promised.
"Our citizens are against turning Russia into an outhouse,"
said Sergei Mitrokhin of the liberal Yabloko faction.
Yabloko and other opponents of the bill wanted the vote be postponed
until fall, but the 450-member State Duma approved the three-bill
package after a 20-minute debate on votes of 266-117, 243-125,
and 250-125. For passage, 226 votes were needed on each bill.
The measure must pass the Federation Council upper house and
be signed by President Vladimir Putin in order to become law.
The upper house usually quickly approves government bills, but
its speaker, Yegor Stroyev, warned Wednesday that passage might
not be that easy. Stroyev pointed at broad public opposition to
the proposals and said it must be thoroughly analyzed.
After passing first reading in December, the measure briefly
stalled due to controversy over alleged conflicts of interests
on the part of Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov. He was dismissed
in a Cabinet shakeup, but his successor, Alexander Rumyantsev,
also championed the idea and it passed on second reading in April.
Environmentalists and other opponents are skeptical of government
promises to clean up radioactive damage to the environment, since
many previous pledges have gone unfulfilled.
Russian towns, rivers and swaths of land were exposed to radioactive
pollution during the secretive development of the Soviet nuclear
industry and environmentalists say they remain dangerously polluted.
Environmentalists also warn that large-scale imports of spent
nuclear fuel would threaten radiation safety by leaving no place
for Russia's own waste from nuclear power plants and decommissioned
submarines.
"The imports of spent nuclear fuel would raise the danger
of accidents at our nuclear plants," said Vladimir Kuznetsov,
the coordinator of nuclear safety programs for the Russian Green
Cross, an independent environmental group.
Kuznetsov, who previously worked at the state nuclear safety
watchdog agency, also said that lax security and crumbling railroads
would pose additional risks if nuclear waste is imported.
See also:
Nuclear
waste bill section of the web-site
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