Moscow’s nuclear radiation scandal
no fewer than 18 dangerous radioactive objects within the capital.And they can be found in heavily built-up areas like Kuzminki,…..In Moscow… the map of the radioactive dumps has not been made and all the more so published. People just do not know whether any nuclear waste is nearby and what the level of radiation on the surface is.
Radiation scare for Moscow parks | The Moscow News, – Evgeniya Chaykovskaya – 13 Sept 10, Levels of radiation on Moscow’s streets have reached a level so high that the authorities are about to spend 4.7 billion roubles to get rid of it.
The $153 million clean-up will run from 2011-2013 amid reports of no fewer than 18 dangerous radioactive objects within the capital.And they can be found in heavily built-up areas like Kuzminki, or on slopes vulnerable to landslips close to the Moskva river.Even an oasis of clean air in the city like Kolomenskoye could be at risk from radioactive waste dumped during the early days of the Soviet nuclear programme……….
Nuclear institutes in the courtyard
Representatives of the Radon scientific union say that no other major city has so much radioactive material so close to residential areas.
The scientists told Komsomolskaya Pravda that they are concerned that there are no protection zones around atomic sites and some – such as the Kurchatov Institute in north-western Moscow – are next to living areas……
Radioactive waste in the city
Another chunk would be spent on dealing with nuclear waste dumps that are allocated within the city limits, like the deposits in Kuzminki park.
During the intensive work with nuclear energy in 1950s a lot of radioactive material was moved beyond the city borders. “The used minerals and radioactive materials were simply taken out in cars and dumped into ravines outside the city,” the head of radiation control laboratory of the institute of city ecology Gennady Akulkin said. “It was acceptable then. But Moscow grew, and the ravines outside the city limits became part of it. Now the radioactive waste needs to be removed.”
The biggest such dump is near Kashirskoye shosse, along the Moskva river. City Hall data suggests that 60,000 cubic meters of nuclear waste are buried there. Even though there is a metre of ground above them and the level of radiation is normal, strong rains and rising groundwater are bringing the radioactive earth to the surface.
So, the waste has to be removed, which is being done at a snail’s pace of 300 cubic meters a year and would take 200 years to completely remove the deposits…….
There is also an issue of unknown radioactive dumps. Tens of them are found every year all over Moscow, like old medical and measuring equipment that is most often simply thrown away in order not to pay for its disposal.
Moreover, there were 503 nuclear waste dumps found and deactivated in the city in the last ten years……
“It is good that the authorities are getting Moscow rid of the radiation dangers,” said head of Greenpeace energy division Vladimir Chuprov. “But this job is not very transparent. In Moscow, for example, the map of the radioactive dumps has not been made and all the more so published. People just do not know whether any nuclear waste is nearby and what the level of radiation on the surface is. They tell us ‘everything is ok’, but do not give us any details, and so doubts appear.”
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