Police in Siberia have detained another three suspects in an attack on an anti-nuclear protest camp that left one person dead and 21 injured July 21, the first assistant prosecutor in Irkutsk said Tuesday. Alexander Semyonov said the detention brings the total number of detainees to 16 after masked assailants carrying baseball bats and metal rods attacked the camp in Angarsk, near Lake Baikal, which was protesting against nuclear waste imports into Russia.
Police opened an inquiry but suggested young neo-Nazis stood behind the attack in revenge for an incident in which several of their associates had allegedly been beaten up.
Western nuclear power companies have been sending byproducts from the uranium enrichment process to Russia, including 'unusable' uranium hexafluoride and uranium tailings, since the 1990s. Russia and Kazakhstan have also opened a uranium enrichment center in Angarsk near Irkutsk.
However, in late June Russia's nuclear chief, Sergei Kiriyenko, said Russia would not reprocess any foreign uranium tailings or waste from the enrichment process until safer methods were found. He added all existing contracts involving the Angarsk complex, the regional economic mainstay, would expire by 2010.
earlier related report
Nuclear Protesters Set Up New Camp In Siberia
Three environmental groups have started setting up a new camp in Siberia to protest against nuclear waste disposal at a local chemicals plant and across Russia. The previous camp in Angarsk near Lake Baikal was attacked Saturday by masked people carrying baseball bats and metal rods. One person was killed and seven injured. Police opened an inquiry but suggested young neo-Nazis could be behind the incident.
"Ecologists are protesting against importing nuclear waste into Russia and call for redirecting all investment in the nuclear power sector into nuclear safety projects," Alexei Milovanov, the camp spokesman, said.
Western nuclear power companies have been sending byproducts from the uranium enrichment process to Russia, including 'unusable' uranium hexafluoride and uranium tailings, since the 1990s. But Sergei Novikov, spokesman for the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power, said on Saturday that "uranium hexafluoride cannot be qualified as nuclear waste under international classification."
He said Russia had no plans to import nuclear waste. "Despite the legislative opportunities… Russia has made a political decision not to take part in projects to process and store nuclear waste from other countries," Novikov said.
In June, Russia's nuclear chief, Sergei Kiriyenko, said Russia would no longer reprocess any foreign uranium tailings until safer methods were found.
Source: RIA Novosti
