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| Business and Education News - August 2, 2001 |
Russia hopes to earn $20 billion in 10 years by importing 20,000 metric tons of nuclear waste from countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, undercutting the services offered by the British and French reprocessing industries. The Russian atomic energy ministry claims money earned by storing, and possibly reprocessing, spent fuel would fund cleanup of contaminated sites and safety improvements in the nuclear industry. But the prospect of transporting nuclear waste through the country by road and rail has caused unease for many environmentalists and Russian citizens. The Russian Green Cross, an environmental group, estimates that there have been 250 accidents at Russian nuclear fuel plants since 1949. The Russian Academy of Sciences supports the move in a statement to President Vladimir Putin quoted by the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS, “It is absolutely clear that radiated nuclear fuel is not waste but material, which mainly consists of precious uranium and plutonium.”
—MARIA BURKE |
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