From time to time proposals are put forward by various companies and countries to create a nuclear waste dump that other countries could ship their nuclear waste to. There are justified concerns about the transport of waste, the safety of the storage and the security of nuclear materials when this waste disposal option is discussed.
Normally, nuclear waste is kept in the countries of origin and stored on or near the reactors where it was generated, if possible. There are exceptions to this practice for countries that lack the necessary geology for storage, countries that pose a risk of proliferation and/or countries which have small nuclear programs.
In 2002, Thomas B. Cochran made a presentation to the MIT Security Studies Program with the title of The Nonproliferation Trust Proposal: Managing Spent Fuel and Nuclear Waste in Russia. The proposal urged the raising of billions of dollars to secure fissile material, end new commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing, build a geologic repository, clean severely contaminated site, provide alternative jobs for nuclear workers and support pensioners and orphans. The plan was to raise fifteen billion dollars by storing ten thousand tons of spent nuclear fuel in Russia that came from other countries (excluding the U.S.).
Non-Proliferation Trust, Inc. (NPT) would head the project with the participation of several Russian Trusts including Minatom Development Trust. There would be a Russian subsidiary and an international subsidiary which would deal with the contractors who would carry out the actual work. Letters of intent from major contractors were included in the presentation.
The people involved in NPT include Daniel Murphy, former deputy director of the CIA, Bruce Demars, former head of the Navy’s nuclear program, and William Webster, former director of the CIA. Even though NPT was set up as a non-profit these principles would make a huge amount of money of the project. The head of MinAtom, Russia’s ministry of nuclear power, estimated that the project could yield revenues of over one hundred and fifty billion dollars.
Critics of the NPT proposal point out that there are alleged connections between MinAtom and the Russian Mob. The NPT proposal which would last for forty years would establish an international market in radioactive waste. Weapons grade plutonium was included in the proposal and could possibly find its way into the hands of private groups which do not have government oversight. With the proceeds from this project, MinAtom would become one of the most powerful entities in Russia, able to operate with little control from the rest of the Russian government.
Although laws were passed through the Russian Duma to allow for the importation of spent nuclear fuel, the resistance of government agencies and citizen groups in the United States prevented implementation of this project. There are a lot of poor countries in the world and such a business would be worth billions of dollars so it is likely that eventually such a waste disposal facility will be constructed somewhere.
Shady adventures of Minatom and Non-Proliferation Trust...by Anatoly Saman from cartage.org.lb:
