"Not only what happened in Tomsk, but also what happened in Moscow reminds us of the days of Chernobyl", Dima Litvinov, international campaign coordinator of Greenpeace said at a press conference in Moscow.
"The good old days of secrecy are still alive. They tried to cover up the facts then, and they are doing the same today".
A tank of radioactive waste exploded at a weapons plant near the Siberian town of Tomsk-7 on April 6, but the degree of radioactive fallout from the accident is still debated.
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations meeting in Tokyo to discuss aid for Russia on Thursday singled out Russia's problems with nuclear waste storage and with its aging stock of nuclear reactors, The Associated Press reported.
"There's a growing realization that there are a lot more potential Chernobyls", said Francis Cornish, spokesman for the British delegation.
According to the AP report, Japan has devoted $100 million to nuclear rehabilitation and the European Community is working on a $1. 2 billion loan. Disagreement remains, however, on how to provide the aid, the report added.
At the press conference in Moscow, Greenpeace said that the Nuclear Power Ministry and other officials who know about the dangers of the blast at Tomsk-7 have not informed the inhabitants of villages contaminated by radiation.
The amount of radiation released is still unknown, but officials say that up to 120 square kilometers were affected.
According to the environmental organization, a representative from the Ministry had told people living in the area that they could pick berries and mushrooms, and sow and plant potatoes without facing any risk to their health.
"It is criminal what they are saying", said Dmitry Tolmatsky, a Greenpeace spokesman.
"The Ministry is not providing information and they keep saying that despite the fact that the area is contaminated, there is no danger to the population".
Greenpeace dispatched a team of three activists to the area this week to investigate. Tolmatsky, head of the delegation, said city officials were badly informed about the dangers, of the blast.
He added that a highway between the village of Sam us and Tomsk, which registered high levels of radiation had not been closed.
Speakers at the conference included two physicists who compared the accident to the 1957 Chelyabinsk disaster, which sent 70 to 80 tons of radioactive material into the open and nearly 11, 000 people had to be evacuated from the area.
Only years after the accident did the truth and scope of the disaster become known.
One key question which remained unanswered is how much highly toxic plutonium was released during the blast. Experts say it will take. another two weeks before an analysis can be done.
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