Russia

Our dear Russian colleague, Lydia Popova, has passed away. Lydia has been our colleague for more than 10 years, doing invaluable work on a number of subjects connected with nuclear safety issues and other energy related issues. Our latest cooperative effort was a report about a NGO concept of a Russian decommissioning plan for the oldest nuclear power reactors. Lydia contributed very valuable knowledge to this report, chiefly regarding how to make a legislative framework for the handling of the nuclear waste generated by breaking up old nuclear reactors.

The Rosatom magazin "Safety of Environment" number 1/2008 features an article about the concept for a decommissioning plan made by Decommission network NGOs. In Rosatom Public Council 28th February authors of the concept presented the suggestions made by the non-governmental organizations regarding the concept of decommissioning of nuclear power units that have passed their operating lifetimes.

On May 29 in the center of St. Petersburg, on the corner of Nevsky Prospect and Malaia Sadovaia streets, a protest demonstration was held by environmental NGOs Bellona (St. Petersburg), Ecodefense (Moscow) and Green World (Sosnovy Bor – St. Petersburg). It was action against the rejected registration of independent environmental impact assessment of new Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant -2 (LAES-2) and the arriving to St. Petersburg by way of the Baltic Sea of a shipment with French nuclear waste.

On May 14th, representatives of Gaia, Green World and Naturvernforbundet met with deputy governor of Murmansk oblast, Sergey Sobbotin, to present the concept of decommission plan that the NGOs have written together.