Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
Alexander Barinov is Radon’s chief engineer for Moscow. He explained that it would be impossible remove all the contaminated soil. Engineers chose to dump new soil on the site each year to keep the waste secured.
Cheryl Rofer is a retired US scientist and nuclear specialist. She said in an interview that “Decontamination would mean the removal of an enormous amount of soil, and other things. And there would have to be a place to put it.”
Rofer oversaw the remediation of the Los Alamos National Laboratory disposal dumps where waste produced by nuclear weapons development was deposited. She says that the concern of the local residents about clouds of radioactive materials that may be produced by construction are overblown. However, she does admit that constructing bridges and highways on the Polymetal site is not really a good idea.
Rofer said, “Building work can open things up and allow material to escape in other ways. The thing about old disposal areas is that they always have surprises in store.”
Authorities in Moscow appear to have kept pushing for the construction at Polymetal even though Russian experts have raised concerns. In 2013, a report indicates that, initially, the management of the closed Polymetal plant rejected the proposal for the construction. It took four years and pressure from the Moscow city government to get the former site managers to agree to the construction.
Pavel Tarasov is a municipal deputy for the Communist Party is backing local protests against the highway. He claims that Moscow authorities have been engaged in a “coverup.” He said, “They know about the radiation danger, but the only thing that matters is their multibillion-dollar project. They can’t get the thing through legally, so they are lying.”
Moscow city officials say that they have not engaged any illegal activity. They also promise that they will continue to monitor the Polymetal site. They say that radiation in the construction zone does not exceed safe levels. Discussions are ongoing.
Rafik Zagrutdinov is the interim head of the Moscow department of construction. He claims that there are no elevated radiation levels in the construction zone. He said, “All the necessary engineering and geological surveys have been carried out. The results of the survey showed no excess of the radiation background.”
Stepan Kalmykov is the interim dean of Moscow State University chemistry faculty. He complained about what he called “excessive radiophobia.” He said that Radon was going to continue decontamination of the Polymetal site. This will include more soil being removed and barriers being erected to prevent leakage. He also said that the radioactive materials found at the Polymetal site including uranium, thorium and radium do not justify public alarm.
Kalmykov said, “These are naturally occurring radionuclides, albeit at higher concentrations,” he says. “As long as reducing risk is feasible, it should be done. But as a professional, I can only smile at the comparisons being made to Fukushima and Chernobyl. He also claims that Russia’s casual attituded toward nuclear safety in the past are now an advantage. “In the race for nuclear defense, we became a leader in recklessness. But now – by accident – we have become leaders in decontamination. Our engineers have already done enormous work across the country. There’s no reason for them not to do a good job here.”