Saratov's Governor Opposes Dumps

By The Moscow Times

July 29, 2011

Saratov Governor Pavel Ipatov has asked the Rosatom subsidiary responsible for nuclear waste management to remove a nuclear waste storage site in the territory, media reported Wednesday.

Ipatov asked RosRAO general director Igor Sukhanov to move ahead with closing down a waste storage facility in the region's Tatishchevsky district.

A RosRAO spokesman told Interfax on Wednesday that Ipatov's letter had been forwarded to Rosatom, adding that any decision about the future of the site would be taken by Rosatom or "at the level of the Russian government."

The request follows revelations earlier in July that radium levels in groundwater near the storage site were more than 10 times greater than safe levels. Earlier this year Ipatov was reported to have vetoed a plan to create a landfill site for radioactive waste in the region.

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