Russia shuts nuclear plant over leak fears
Date: 14-Jan-03
Country: RUSSIA
The plant is part of the Mayak facility in the formerly closed Urals city of Ozyorsk, the site of the worst nuclear disaster on Russian territory five decades ago, when hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to radiation.
Russia's nuclear safety agency, Gosatomnadzor, denied plant 235 an operating licence for 2003 over fears that radioactive waste dumped into the nearby Lake Karachay and in specially built water tanks was tainting local water supplies.
Environmental group Greenpeace says anyone who stands by the lake for more than an hour could be exposed to fatal levels of radiation, which they say are 350,000 times higher than normal.
"Plant 235 is not working at the moment because it did not respect safety rules. We are now deciding on what conditions need to be fulfilled so that work can resume," said Andrei Kislov, a senior official at Gosatomnadzor.
A tank containing radioactive waste exploded at Mayak in 1957 and exposed 472,000 people to radiation in an accident long kept secret by Soviet authorities. Ecologists greeted the move to close the plant as rare proof that Russia is finally coming to grips with the nuclear burden it inherited from the Soviet Union.
"Though Gosatomnadzor has done some good things, this is the first time we have seen a step at this level," said Greenpeace energy expert Vladimir Chuprov. "Unfortunately, there is a high possibility that a licence will be granted soon, given the strong nuclear energy lobby pressuring the authorities.
"The only way to solve the problem is to shut down the plant once and for all. If the administration says they will solve the problem but leave the plant open, they are lying. The technology for this to be possible simply does not exist."
The lake is several times more radioactive than the area surrounding Ukraine's Chernobyl plant, the site of the world's worst civil nuclear accident.
The plant has dumped radioactive waste in the area since the 1950s, and it is unclear why a decision has been taken now.
Russian environment pressure group Ecodefence said by improving standards to satisfy U.S. State Department rules, the Russians hoped to win lucrative contracts to reprocess U.S. spent nuclear fuel. Some 80 percent of the world's spent nuclear fuel stockpiles are under U.S. jurisdiction.
