"Anti-Nuclear Resistance"

Plan to Import Nuclear Waste Unscathed Despite Recent Controversies.
June 8

Despite taking a few hits, Russia’s Min-Atom and supporters of the nuclear industry have thus far managed to negotiate the “nuclear packet”—the three bills that would allow for the import of spent nuclear fuel into the Russian Federation—through the lower house of Russia’s parliament. On June 7, the three bills, with few changes, were approved by solid majorities in the third and final reading. Min-Atom’s plan must now be approved by the upper house of Russia’s parliament, the Federation Council, whose speaker, Yegor Stroev, has promised a more careful examination of the bills. 

The first bump for the nuclear industry occurred March 14, when, in a reply to the US based Nuclear Information and Resource Service & World Information Service on Energy (NIRS-WISE), the US State Department, which must approve the re-export of the spent nuclear fuel Russia would like to store and reprocess, has stated that "any transfer to Russia of power reactor spent fuel subject to U.S. consent rights [around 90% of the world’s supply] could only take place if the United States were to conclude an agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation with the Russian Federation," The State Department indicated in this letter that they are not going to sign any agreement with Russia while Russia is building a nuclear reactor in Iran. This alone would kill any hope of receiving former Atomic Minister Adamov’s oft-quoted $20 billion, that MinAtom, and others with much less authority, have promised to anyone and everyone in Russia, from orphans and pensioners to areas environmentally damaged by radiation.

The second problem occurred at the end of March when the blustering Minister of Atomic Energy Evegnny Adamov, amid charges of corruption and mismanagement, was unceremoniously dumped from the cabinet and replaced with the less controversial Oleg Rumiantsev. It soon became clear however, that the government had merely changed the messenger without changing the message. Rumiantsev almost immediately announced his support for the plan, and within several weeks, the nuclear packet passed the Duma in the second and crucial reading.

Russia’s greens have also taken a few hits. In March, the Supreme Court upheld the Central Election Commission’s invalidation of 700,000 of the 2.5 million signatures Russia’s greens had collected in order to call for a referendum which would once for all outlaw the importation of nuclear waste. [see previous article] In order for citizen’s groups to call for a referendum, they must collect at least 2 million signatures, which must be certified by the Central Election Commission. The Supreme Court’s decision effectively kills the referendum effort.  

The Russian environmental movement has also come under increasingly scathing attack from the nuclear lobby or nationalist deputies who accuse Russia’s greens of being “bought” by foreign nuclear power companies or foreign special services or both, who, according to these charges, allegedly seek either to prevent Russian competition in the market for spent nuclear fuel or want to weaken Russia by restricting the development of its nuclear industry.

In the meantime, recent polls all confirm that 90% of the Russian population continues to oppose Min-Atom’s plans.

All hope is not lost. Because governors and regional legislatures select deputies to the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament is much more sensitive than the Duma to regional  governments, many of which have issued condemnations of Min-Atom's plan.