New EU rules for nuclear waste open the door to dumping in Russia via Greenpeace

European countries obliged to develop plans to address waste problem

Press release – July 19, 2011

European countries today agreed to develop plans to address the ever-growing problem of nuclear waste. However, the EU also agreed to continue the dangerous practice of transporting radioactive material across great distances to storage plants outside EU borders.

In the waters off Belgium, Greenpeace activists protest with banners reading ‘Russia is not a nuclear dump’ alongside the Russian transport ship ‘Kapitan Kuroptev’, which is carrying radioactive waste from France to Russia.

EU ministers rubber stamped new rules obliging governments to publish plans by 2015 detailing their preferred options to store or reprocess radioactive waste from nuclear reactors. Some countries that generate nuclear waste, such as Bulgaria, Slovakia and Spain, had so far been reluctant to put together comprehensive plans.

Despite pressure from the European Commission to block exports, the new rules will allow Hungary and Bulgaria, countries that currently have agreements for the export of nuclear waste to Russia, to continue transferring radioactive material.

Continue reading at New EU rules for nuclear waste open the door to dumping in Russia