RUSSIAN environmental activists will try to block the shipment of spent nuclear fuel from Bulgaria to Russia.
Co-chairman of Russian environmental group Ecozashchita (Ecodefence), Vladimir Slivyak, said this on the Russian radio station Moscow Echo on Monday.
An agreement on the transportation of nuclear materials from Bulgaria to Russia via Ukraine was signed in Sofia on August 9, 2002, Slivyak said. Around 40 tons of spent nuclear fuel from Bulgaria's nuclear power plant Kozlodui will be transported to Russia by the end of 2002, Slivyak said, quoting Bulgarian Government sources.
The environmentalists fear that the contract might turn out to be a case of financial fraud as no details from it have been published yet. Russian environmental protests were staged in 2001 against the transportation of Bulgarian spent nuclear fuel to Krasnoyarsk, southern Siberia.
Spent nuclear fuel should be brought to Russia for recycling, but there is no guarantee that the fuel will not be buried on Russian territory as a planned reprocessing facility near Krasnoyarsk will not be completed before 2020, Slivyak said.
The only recent official information on the matter came last Thursday when the Government press office said Bulgaria would be able to have its spent nuclear fuel transported via Ukraine to Russia. A provision to this effect is available in a draft trilateral agreement on cooperation in the transportation of nuclear materials, which was approved by the Council of Ministers last Thursday.
Co-chairman of Russian environmental group Ecozashchita (Ecodefence), Vladimir Slivyak, said this on the Russian radio station Moscow Echo on Monday.
An agreement on the transportation of nuclear materials from Bulgaria to Russia via Ukraine was signed in Sofia on August 9, 2002, Slivyak said. Around 40 tons of spent nuclear fuel from Bulgaria's nuclear power plant Kozlodui will be transported to Russia by the end of 2002, Slivyak said, quoting Bulgarian Government sources.
The environmentalists fear that the contract might turn out to be a case of financial fraud as no details from it have been published yet. Russian environmental protests were staged in 2001 against the transportation of Bulgarian spent nuclear fuel to Krasnoyarsk, southern Siberia.
Spent nuclear fuel should be brought to Russia for recycling, but there is no guarantee that the fuel will not be buried on Russian territory as a planned reprocessing facility near Krasnoyarsk will not be completed before 2020, Slivyak said.
The only recent official information on the matter came last Thursday when the Government press office said Bulgaria would be able to have its spent nuclear fuel transported via Ukraine to Russia. A provision to this effect is available in a draft trilateral agreement on cooperation in the transportation of nuclear materials, which was approved by the Council of Ministers last Thursday.
