During a recent visit to Moscow, Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, announced plans to establish the first-ever international nuclear waste facility where radioactive waste from all across the world could be brought in for storage. The Krasnoyarsk Territory is listed among the areas where such a facility may be built.
Khloponin said he was going to ask for an environmental assessment of the project. "I want to be aware of its implications as I am responsible for the people living here, [in the Krasnoyarsk Territory]," he explained.
The governor said that no official had approached him to discuss the issue thus far. He told the media about his recent meeting with the Director of the Federal Nuclear Power Agency, Alexander Rumyantsev, according to whom no paperwork had been done on the project so far.
Last week, Rumyantsev said that no final decision had yet been made as to the construction in Russia of an international nuclear waste storage facility. The idea, suggested at the IAEA's 47th conference, is now being discussed by experts, he said. He expressed regret that the West was already talking about the establishment of a nuclear waste dump in Russia as if it were a fait accompli. "There is no agreement such a storage facility will appear. This proposal will be under discussion at the expert level in the IAEA for several years," the Russian Nuclear Power Agency chief said.
