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Germany’s unsafe nuclear waste dump in Siberia

Russian environmentalists criticise uranium storage in Siberia Monsters and Critics Oct 16, 2009, Moscow – A Russian environmentalist group Friday criticised the way nuclear waste from Germany was being stored in the open air in restricted military areas in Siberia, and appealed for awareness of the issue in Germany.

Vladim Slivyak, head of the Ecodefense environmental group, said that barrels of nuclear wastes from Germany were being stored under the open skies, despite protests even from Russia’s own nuclear authorities.’This is not denied by anyone in Russia, not even Rosatom,’ he said, referring to the country’s nuclear power state holding company.

And while the watchdog agency Rostechnadsor has been criticising the situation since 2002, ‘they are equally powerless because all this is a kind of secret military matter,’ Slivyak said.His own group is prevented from investigating the matter more closely because the storage sites are in off-limits military areas, he said.Slivyak estimated that some 100,000 tonnes of toxic nuclear waste have been shipped from Germany to Russia since 1996 under bilateral agreements. He personally witnessed several uranium shipments arriving in St. Petersburg………………. In Germany, the Urenco company which is responsible for the uranium shipments rejected any criticism.

Russian environmentalists criticise uranium storage in Siberia – Monsters and Critics

October 17, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radioactive, wastes