Russian lawmakers vote to accept world’s N-waste

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, June 6, 2001

Associated Press

MOSCOW — In a vote that critics say will turn Russia into the planet’s nuclear waste dump, Russian lawmakers defied broad public opposition and on Wednesday passed a law allowing nuclear waste to be imported and stored indefinitely.

Proponents say the measure will create jobs and bring in billions of dollars to needy government coffers. They vow to use some of the riches to clean up radioactive swathes of the world’s largest country scarred by decades of Soviet nuclear development.

Opponents question whether the money will really be used as promised, and whether Russia is equipped to safely handle the expected quantities of spent foreign nuclear fuel.

Russia’s safety record is spotty at its underfunded nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons facilities. Corruption among officials is rife. And some prominent scientists say the cost of building or upgrading waste reprocessing facilities would outstrip potential profits.

"Our citizens are against turning Russia into an outhouse," Sergei Mitrokhin of the liberal Yabloko faction said during Wednesday’s debate in the lower house of parliament, or State Duma.

Nonetheless, the 450-member house approved the three-bill package after a 20-minute debate.

The measure must pass the upper house, the Federation Council, and be signed by President Vladimir Putin in order to become law.

Federation Council speaker Yegor Stroyev said the bill would likely pass the upper house, but only after some "corrections," ITAR-Tass reported. "First, it is necessary to create guarantees that this decision will not cause any trouble for future generations," he said, without elaborating.

Putin didn’t comment publicly on the bill Wednesday, but its relatively smooth passage in the Duma suggested it had backing from the Kremlin.

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