In December of 2005, Greenpeace activists occupied a loading dock and 2 loading cranes at the port of Le Havre, France. They were protesting the loading of four hundred and fifty containers of radioactive waste on a ship bound for Russia. They were protesting the thirty year arrangement between European nations and the Russian Federation to ship nuclear waste to Russia for disposal.
Over the decades more than one hundred thousand tons of radioactive waste have been shipped to Russia. National and international laws and regulations were broken at every stage of the journey posing a threat to all the people living along the route taken by the waste ships.
There are two main types of nuclear wastes being shipped to Russia. Uranium waste generated by nuclear fuel reprocessing taking place at the Cogema/Areav facility at la Hague in Normandy, France and depleted uranium created by the enrichment of nuclear fuel at the France Eurodif/Areva de Pierrelatte facilities in France and the Urenco facilities in Germany (Gronau), the Netherlands (Almelo) and the UK (Capenhurst). These facilities provide fuel for the one hundred and thirty five nuclear reactors operating in Europe.
The containers being used to ship the nuclear waste to Russia do not meet the standards set by the International Atomic Energy Agency. They pose a major hazard during their trip to Russia that covers thousands of miles. Crystals of uranium hexafluoride compose much of the waste being shipped. This substance reacts violently to water, generating lethal gas.
“The nuclear industry is opting for the cheapest, dirtiest and most dangerous option – dumping in Russia,” said Vladimir Tchuprov of Greenpeace Russia in la Havre. “Russia already has a nuclear waste crisis, and yet EDF, EoN, and all other European nuclear utilities are making the situation worse. Disposal and even storage of foreign nuclear waste in Russia is illegal,” said Tchuprov.
“European utilities dumping uranium wastes in Russia include: OKG – Finland, Vattenfall – Sweden/Europe, EoN and RWE - Germany, Electrabel - Belgium, EPZ - the Netherlands, British Energy - the UK, EDF - France, Iberdola - Spain, and NOK/Swissnuclear – Switzerland.”
Greenpeace has filed a lawsuit in Russia against this practice, citing Russian law that states that importation of nuclear waste from foreign sources for disposal in Russia is illegal. Their complaint was against Tekhsnabexport, a Russian company, for signing contracts with Eurodif, Urenco, Internexco and GKN to accept nuclear waste for disposal in Russia. Even the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom) signed a contract with the French company Cogema for disposal of nuclear waste.
While the illegal dumping of nuclear waste by the Mafia in Italy is an arrangement between companies and organized crime, the dumping in Russia appears to be an arrangement between European companies, Russian companies and even the Russian government. Such blatant disregard for Russian law on the part of Russia companies and Russian government agencies reveals amazing greed and cynicism that ill severs the Russian people.
Port of La Havre, France:
