Russia to dump nuclear waste in Arctic

Russia intends to build a dumpsite on an Arctic island to store spent nuclear fuel from its decommissioned Northern Fleet submarines.

The dump may also accept nuclear waste from other countries. Last summer, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing Russia to import spent nuclear fuel from other countries for storage and reprocessing.

Building the dump could take between five and seven years. When finished, at a cost about US$70 million, it will hold up to 55,500 tons of waste.

The dump is to be located at the southern tip of Novaya Zemlya, a place used for nuclear bomb tests until 1990.

The dump will store spent fuel from 190 decommissioned nuclear submarines. To date, nuclear fuel has been removed from only 97 submarines. Others have been docked for as long as 15 years because there has been no money to pay for the dismantling and storage of spent nuclear fuel.

The entire dismantling job will cost from US$2.5 billion to US$3 billion.

Some European Union nations have offered to provide funds for dismantling the submarines, but Russia has refused to take full legal responsibility for any risks involved or give Western inspectors unlimited access to all dismantling sites.