Latest news on Greenpeace's campaign to stop Russia becoming the world's nuclear waste dump. Press Coverage: [24.05.2002] The Moscow Times - A Cold War Legacy in Black & White. Full story ...

20.05.02 - Human tragedy of Russian plutonium production portrayed
in photographic exhibition

Moscow - Greenpeace today launched an exhibition of photographs (1),
at the prestigious Moscow House of Photography, highlighting the ‘Cold War’
human tragedy resulting from t he production of plutonium at Russia's and
the world's most contaminated nuclear site, Mayak, in the Chelyabinsk region.

While Moscow prepares for the arrival of US President Bush for the
signing of an historic treaty on nuclear weapons reduction, Greenpeace
released documents exposing a giant experiment conducted on the
people of the Mayak region by the nuclear industry and called for the
surrounding villages to be evacuated and all plans to expand the site to
be abandoned.

The documents reveal the horrific extent of radioactive contamination.
More than 1.5 million people of the Chelyabinsk region’s 3.2 million
population are threatened by radiation in their environment and food.
Before Mayak began operating in the 1950s, 45 in every 100,000 people
had cancer. By 2000 this had rocketed to 360 in 100,000, excluding any
data from the areas' closed nuclear cities. In one village, Tatarskaya
Karabolka, 500 of the 640 population have cancer – approximately 80%.

“The photographs are a testimony to the mass destruction perpetuated
by the nuclear industry on surrounding populations. They are a snap
shot of life in the shadow of the nuclear industry - A Half Life,” said
Mike Townsley of Greenpeace at the exhibition launch.

Mayak is at the centre of the Russian Nuclear Ministry’s, Minatom,
ambitions to turn the country into the world's nuclear waste dump.
Minatom hopes to import some 20,000 tones of spent nuclear fuel in a
deal it believes will earn some 20 billion US dollars. It claims to have had
discussions with a number of potential client countries including:
Germany, UK, Spain, Switzerland, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

“We have suffered from radiation so much
that almost every week someone in our village
dies from cancer. So, why don’t the members
of the parliament think well before they permit
nuclear waste into the country? Please think
about our future,” appealed Ramzis Fayzullin who
lives near Mayak (2).

Minatom seeks to justify importing spent nuclear fuel claiming it is the only
way to earn money to clean-up the surrounding areas. However, a
report from the Russian Federal Court of Auditors exposes this lie. Between
1998 and 2000, the Auditors found that Minatom received 270 million US
dollars in international aid to help deal with its spent nuclear fuel management
crisis, but was unable to trace what the money has been spent on. It is therefore
hard to believe that Minatom is a trustworthy organisation and that it only
seeks to earn money to increase its nuclear program, which can only lead to
further contamination of the environment.

“The Russian Government has proven it will not maintain the people’s
right to a clean environment and does not guarantee that all damage to
the health of its people will ever be compensated. In such a situation,
further development of the nuclear industry in the country is a crime
against morality,” said Anna Il’ena, lawyer from the Chelyabinsk region
(3).

The issue of spent nuclear fuel imports is likely to be discussed during
the Bush-Putin summit in Moscow this week. Much of the spent nuclear
fuel, which could be sent to Russia for disposal, was originally supplied
by the US in contracts which gives it a ‘prior consent right’ over the
transfer of nuclear materials to another country. President Bush could
stop this insane proposal by simply refusing his authorization.

“The exhibition gives a voice to the people who have already paid the
price for the Cold War and are now expected to play host to an
international radioactive waste dump. It is an appeal to governments all
over the world not to abdicate responsibility for managing their own
radioactive waste by sending it to Russia. In particular, if President Bush
is to ‘liquidate the legacy of the Cold War’ he must refuse to underwrite
turning Mayak into the world's nuclear waste dump.,” said Townsley.

Contacts:
Mike Townsley, Greenpeace International Nuclear Campaigner – in
Moscow +31 62 129 6918
Mhairi Dunlop, Greenpeace International Nuclear Press Co-ordinator – in
Moscow +31 65 350 4731

Images from the exhibition are available from John Novis, Greenpeace
International Photo Desk – in Moscow +31 65 381 9121

Notes to editors:

(1) The photographs were taken by Dutch photo-journalist, Robert
Knoth in the villages around the Mayak nuclear complex in 2000 and
2001. His work has been extensively published and since 1994 he
has worked in many parts of the world including Afghanistan,
Sudan, the former Yugoslavia, Angola, Somalia, Guinea and Sierra
Leone.

(2) RamzisFayzullin suffers from hydrocephalu and requires expensive
medication to ease his severe headaches.

(3) LawyerAnna Il’ena has represented over two dozen victims of
radiation in their efforts to get compensation for their suffering and
the high medical costs.

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