Russian deputies warn of radioactive contamination at nuclear plant

CIVIL NUCLEAR

file photo of Russian nuclear plant.

by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) Feb 08, 2006
A Russian parliamentary committee called for the closure Wednesday of a nuclear waste treatment plant in the Ural mountains region, warning of widespread radioactive contamination.

The resolution recommended that Russia's atomic energy agency Rosatom "gradually phase out the treatment of nuclear waste at Mayak" in the Ural mountains region because of environmental contamination.

"The radioactive situation around Mayak is getting worse," said the deputies after touring the plant, Russia's oldest nuclear facility, located some 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) east of Moscow.

"After liquid radioactive waste was thrown into the Techa river between 1949 and 1954, and a significant nuclear accident in 1957, a vast zone of radioactive contamination has formed around the plant," the resolution said.

The resolution still has to be approved by the parliament as a whole before it can have the status of an official recommendation to the government.

The Mayak plant, built in 1948, can treat 400 tonnes of nuclear waste a year.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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