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The meeting between the representatives of environmental organisations
from Tomsk and Chelyabinsk regions, Krasnoyarsk Territory and the
leaders of the YABLOKO party took place in the State Duma on December 3,
2002. YABLOKO was represented by chairman of the party Grigory
Yavlinsky, as well as deputy chairmen, deputies of the State Duma Sergei
Mitrokhin and Igor Artemyev.
The press service of the YABLOKO faction informed "regions.ru" that the
discussions focussed on the problems of wideranging imports of nuclear
waste into Russia, as well as coordination in the environmental sector
between YABLOKO and non-governmental organisations.
In his speech Grigory Yavlinsky stressed the importance of wideranging
cooperation between environmental organisations and YABLOKO. "While we
are not the "green' party, we are learning to be an environmental
party," said YABLOKO's leader. "Environmental concerns are key to our
politics. Attitudes to environmental problems represent the index of the
cultural level of individuals and society in general." He expressed the
readiness of YABLOKO to use all the resources at its disposal to
implement constructive legislative initiatives proposed by the
environmentalists.
Yavlinsky also confirmed that YABLOKO was a principled and consistent
opponent of imports of nuclear waste into Russia. "The transformation of
Russia into an international nuclear burial is a disgrace and we will be
accountable before our children for such a step," stressed Yavlinsky.
Sergei Mitrokhin drew the attention of the audience to the possibility
of alternative financing of the problems connected with ecological
rehabilitation of the territories that suffered owing to the functioning
of the nuclear power sector and utilisation of nuclear waste accumulated
in Russia. According to Mitrokhin, a number of foreign countries
expressed their readiness to finance corresponding programmes in our
country. "The hypothetical twenty billion dollars promised by the
Nuclear Power Ministry of Russia from implementation of the programme
connected with imports of nuclear waste into Russia can actually be
obtained from Russia's foreign partners without increasing the quantity
of dangerous radioactive materials on Russia's territory," noted
Mitrokhin.
Artemyev said that it was necessary to change the methodology for
calculating the costs of electricity generated by nuclear power
stations. "The ideological myth about the low cost of energy generated
by nuclear power stations is based on the fact that its prime costs
exclude many expensive chains of the nuclear cycle connected with
treatment of nuclear fuel, utilisation of waste from nuclear power
plants and the ecological rehabilitation of the territories [that were
contaminated]," noted Artemyev. "To obtain an objective picture of
energy costs, you need to include all these costs in the tariff."
Environmentalists handed YABLOKO's representatives a number of documents
connected to the state of Russia's radioactive security, as well as
draft amendments to the law "On Radioactive Security". It is expected
that once these amendments have been developed they will be submitted to
the State Duma by deputies from the YABLOKO faction. The participants
of the meeting also reached an agreement on cooperation on a number of
other issues.
See also:
YABLOKO Against Nuclear Waste Imports
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