At the port entrance climbers hung a 20-metre banner "STOP" with
a sign of radiation. On the opposite bank of the channel activists
deployed another banner in Russian and French and lit the alarm
torches.
Greenpeace activists have been on the frontlines all week
attempting to stop the shipment of nuclear waste from France to
Russia. At Pierrelatte Greenpeace France activists have dismantled
railroad tracks to prevent the nuclear waste transportation to the
port of Havre. Later Greenpeace ship the Esperanza tried to stop
the cargo vessel "Captain Kuroptev" in the North Sea. Despite
attempts from the nuclear industry to silence us, our activists
continue to nonviolently resist the transport of nuclear waste.
Hazardous cargo that has arrived to St. Petersburg belongs to
the French company AREVA. Since 2006, 33,000 tones of uranium have
been exported to Russia (including 23,540 tones of depleted
uranium), while only 3090 tones of uranium made the return trip.
Part of this uranium is from AREVA's clients in the Netherlands,
Belgium, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. 30,000 tones of
the uranium waste have been dumped in Russia on open air dumpsites
in Siberia.
The contract between the companies JSC TENEX and AREVA will be
valid until 2014. Within this period several thousand tons of
uranium can be imported to Russia.
State Corporation Rosatom says depleted uranium is sent to
Siberia to be enriched and then returned to France. However only
10% of all imported uranium have returned to France, and up to 98%
remains in Russia. This isn't 'recycling' or 'reuse'. This is
making nuclear waste somebody else's problem.
"If it is a "valuable energy resource" why does AREVA part with
it so easy and sell it so cheap", says Vladimir Chuprov, Head of
Energy Unit of Greenpeace Russia. "And why does Rosatom need this
uranium when they have hundreds of thousands tons of Russian
depleted uranium accumulated and don't have technology to recycle
it?"
Greenpeace Russia is supported by thousands people, who already
signed the appeal to the French Government demanding to stop
international nuclear waste trade!
For more detailed information please visit http://www.greenpeace.org/russia/ru/1304563/