Russian news agency Interfax

Greenpeace Russia believes that bringing spent nuclear fuel from Bulgaria into Russia is unlawful and they demand that it be sent back, Greenpeace Russia coordinator Vladimir Chuprov said at a press conference in Moscow today.

Greenpeace motivates its demand by the fact that the Bulgarian spent nuclear fuel was brought into Russia under a contract between the Bulgarian Kozloduy nuclear power plant and the Russian Tekhsnabeksport foreign-trade enterprise signed in June 2000, and "this document violates Russian law".

Greenpeace Russia obtained a copy of the contract and carried out its expert examination with the support of other ecological organizations. The examination revealed that the conclusion and fulfilment of the contract was accompanied by numerous violations, which caused Russia 20m dollars in damages.

What causes particular interest is the contract price and the system of settlements for handling the spent nuclear fuel, Chuprov said. "When pushing through the laws on bringing spent nuclear fuel into Russia, the Atomic Energy Ministry promised that Russia would earn at least 1,000 dollars per kilo, but the contract bears another figure - 620 dollars per kilo. The overall difference between the promised and real sum tops 15m dollars," he said.

Greenpeace demands that the prosecution services conduct an urgent investigation into the Atomic Energy Ministry's importation of spent nuclear fuel, Chuprov said. He noted that Greenpeace forwarded this request to the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office on 2 November.

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