Yesterday the Minister for Nuclear Power Alexander Rumyantsev reported to State Duma deputies on nuclear safety in the country.

However, deputies were more interested in the problem of physical protection of nuclear facilities. Duma deputy Sergei Mitrokhin (YABLOKO) told our Vremya MN correspondent: "I could personally see that the situation was unfavourable when I visited [nuclear power] facilities in Krasnoyarsk and discovered that they were not guarded. This is largely attributable to a constant dearth of financing for this sector, despite the fact that a special law stipulates that all nuclear power objects receive100% finance from the budget and that this law is not observed. Random checks of nuclear power facilities demonstrated that they were financed only by 10-15%. But we constantly hear cheerful reports that everything related to the safety of these facilities is fine: we recently received such a report from the head of the interior Boris Gryzlov. And we have grounds to question such statements, as what I was there does not instil trust in such glossy reports."

The minister had to admit that about 100 derelict radioactive sources had been detected in the country last year. The State Nuclear Power Inspectorate also repeatedly pinpointed considerable drawbacks in the provision of physical safety at a number of nuclear power facilities. This was attributable to a similar financing shortfall Rumyantsev also said that "the nuclear safety of Russia is satisfactory". The minister stressed that no emergencies had been recorded in the whole history of nuclear weapons both in the USSR and Russia and that experience accumulated in this sector was being used in the peaceful nuclear power sector.

See also:

Press Release. March 5, 2003. The Ministry of Nuclear Power expresses its gratitude to YABLOKO for inspecting the safety of nuclear power facilities.

YABLOKO Against Nuclear Waste Imports

Vremya MN, March 6, 2003