Greenpeace activists gathered on the docks in St. Petersburg on Tuesday in protest against the arrival of Russian cargo ship Kapitan Kuroptev, carrying 650 tons of depleted uranium from the French company AREVA.
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© Vadim Kantor/Greenpeace
Greenpeace activists gathered on the docks in St. Petersburg on Tuesday in protest against the arrival of Russian cargo ship Kapitan Kuroptev, carrying 650 tons of depleted uranium from the French company AREVA.
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© Vadim Kantor/Greenpeace
According to Greenpeace, 23,540 tons of depleted uranium have been imported to Russia since 2006. The uranium is sent to east Siberia for enrichment, after which it is supposed to be returned to France, although Greenpeace says most of it is simply "dumped in open air dumpsites in Siberia."
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© Vadim Kantor/Greenpeace
A week ago, French Greenpeace activists tore up rail tracks near the Tricastin Nuclear Power Center in southeastern France to stop a shipment of nuclear waste to Russia, saying Russia's state-controlled civilian nuclear energy corporation Rosatom was carrying out a "hidden trade in nuclear waste."
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© Vadim Kantor/Greenpeace
In response to Greenpeace's accusations, Rosatom said the protesters were "drawing attention to an issue that doesn't exist," referring to the contracts on uranium deliveries that expire in 2010.
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© Vadim Kantor/Greenpeace
"Rosatom did in fact drop its contract with Urenco, a European consortium which supplies equipment to enrich uranium for the nuclear industry, in 2010, but the agreements on shipping nuclear waste from France's Areva are still in effect. Areva is determined to stick to contract terms that it says expire in 2014," Vladimir Chuprov, the energy program director of Greenpeace Russia, said on Tuesday.
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© Vadim Kantor/Greenpeace
Chuprov said Greenpeace sent a request to Areva's CEO Anne Lauvergeon a month ago asking the company to cancel its contract with Russia, but has not received a reply.
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© Акция против ввоза ядерных отходов
The French government set up a special ministerial commission after a documentary on nuclear waste shipments to Russia was shown in France in October 2009. The commission's report is due to be completed in April or May.
