The natural uranium price on the world market reaches 260 USD
per 1 kg, that is 430 times more expensive than UF6 which Russia
buys in Western Europe. Upon the contracts having been in force
since mid-90s, 150,000 tons of UF6 will be brought to Russia
allegedly for additional enrichment. Western European UF6 will be
added to 700,000 of domestic UF6 already accumulated and hundreds
thousands of waste resulting from enrichment of Kazakh uranium
which Rosatom plans to start in the nearest future in Angarsk.
Therefore, by 2030, about 1,000,000 tons of UF6 will be accumulated
in Russia.
Foreign uranium hexafluoride is shipped in Russia by sea,
arriving to the port of St.Petersburg from where it is transported
by railway to one of 4 destinations - Tomsk-7, Krasnoyarsk-45,
Sverdlovsk-44 and Angarsk. According to the conclusion made by the
Russian Federal Service for Ecological, Technical and Atomic
Supervision (Rostekhnadzor), the UF6 storage conditions in Russia
do not meet the safety requirements: metal tanks are prone to
corrosion and can unseal.
Depleted uranium hexafluoride is an hazardous chemical compound.
When being in contact with air, fluor comes in contact with air
moisture producing a hydrofluoric acid which damages the lungs and
the kidneys. Accidents with container leaking have already happened
in the uranium industry history which led to persons' death. Russia
does not have any industrial technologies for transferal of UF6
into a safe form (so-called defluorization or deconversion) yet.
They can be launched only by 2010-2012 on the basis of equipment
bought in France which has the capacity of 10,000 tons per year,
and on the basis of domestic developments. Thereat, the cost of
defluorization of uranium accumulated until 2030 can reach USD 1
bln. Taking into consideration that the Russian Agency of Nuclear
Energy (Rosatom) has no financial mechanism for utilization and
radioactive waste, the nuclear industry has and will have no money
for it.
It is also important to mention that in April 2007 there was
abolished the prohibition for "import of nuclear materials from
other states for the purpose of storage" stipulated by the law "On
Environmental Protection". According to this prohibition, contracts
for UF6 import from Western Europe signed in 90s of the previous
century had been illegal.
"It can be concluded that currently the mechanism for
transforming Russia into a nuclear dump is being adjusted and
perfected", - said Vladimir Chuprov, the Head of the Energy
Department of Greenpeace Russia. - "The low price of the "valuable"
raw materials for energy industry is about 60 cents per kilogram,
like that for toilet paper, is one more confirmation that UF6 trade
is trade with radioactive waste".
Contacts:
in Moscow Vladimir Chuprov +7-495-6265045,
in Amsterdam Rianne Teule +31652062973