(444.4400) WISE-Amsterdam - In a series of press conferences in Moscow, Brussels, Washington, Murmansk and Oslo on Nov. 29/30, Bellona released its new report, Bellona Working Paper 5: 1995 - "Zapadnaya Litsa". The paper is part of the material confiscated on Oct. 5 by the Federal Security Police (FSB), and may contain some of the allegedly "secret information" which motivated the FSB's actions against Bellona in the first place (see WISE NC 442.4369).
The report released by Bellona is not yet the foundation's full report on Zapadnaya Litsa, which has yet to be finished. Bellona decided to publish its working paper because it wanted to let the Russian people judge for themselves whether the information contained therein should remain secret, as some parties seem to want, or be made public in order to prevent accidents and unnecessary suffering for those living in the locality.
In the well-attended press conference in Moscow, Bellona presented pictures and information on Russia's storage of nuclear waste from the nuclear submarines on the base in the fjord of Zapadnaya Litsa in the Andreeva bay. The hitherto unpublished pictures showed containers with used fuel assemblies stored openly outdoors. There were also pictures of the indoor facilities, which contain about 6,000m3 radioactive waste. The thousands of spent nuclear fuel assemblies and the tonnes of other radioactive waste from the Russian northern fleet pose radiation risks far exceeding those of Chernobyl. There have been, and still are, leakages to the sea.
According to Bellona's report, the storage facilities of Zapadnaya Litsa, originally meant to be interim solutions, are now full. New facilities exist only as plans.
The main dangers posed by the facilities are uncontrollable chain reactions or leakages as a consequence of technical breakdowns, fire, explosions, human error or plain wear and tear.
Bellona's report can be found on the Internet, with all the maps and photos from the printed versions. If you do not have access to the Web, it is still possible to get the documents from Bellona by mail.
Two Norwegian companies announced plans in November to help Russia dispose of its atomic waste and derelict nuclear submarines. Norway, the only member of the NATO alliance that shares a border with Russia, is concerned that radiation in the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia could contaminate Norwegian territory. No contract has been signed thus far, but the Norwegian government has granted US $725,000 to one of those companies, Kvaerner, to do research on the disposal of the nuclear submarines, some of which are barely afloat at the bases of the Russian North Fleet.
In addition, Norway has earmarked US $1.3 million to help Russia guard its nuclear fuel. "There have been several instances of uranium fuel being poorly secured and we are afraid it could fall into the wrong hands," said Erling Stranden of the government's Norwegian Radiation Protection Board. "The fuel contains enriched uranium. That means it could be used for atomic bombs."
Source:
- Bellona, several e-mails
- Associated Press, 10 November 1995
Phone: +47 22382410, Fax: +47 22383862
E-mail: bellona@bellona.no
Internet: www.bellona.no
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