In the past 10 years, the human fallout from the Soviet Union's nuclear programs has been well-documented. About 61 million Russians live in towns with dangerous levels of contamination, according to the state environment committee, an agency recently disbanded by President Vladimir Putin. In Muslimovo, a bleak farming settlement of 4,500 people, the cancer rate is three times the national average, and one of every three children has birth defects, villagers say. Little money has been given to clean up the land, treat people or move families. Some Duma lawmakers say the profits from importing and treating nuclear waste could be used for environmental cleanup.
Environmentalists think otherwise.
The international environmental group Greenpeace argues that the proposal creates greater risks of accidents, especially since the nuclear waste would be transported over vast distances to the Siberian storage sites. The environmentalists say their main hope rests with their unprecedented campaign to prod the government into holding a national referendum on nuclear waste imports. In late summer, about 200 citizens groups organized a two-month canvassing blitz. They collected 2.5 million signatures in support of a referendum that would allow citizens a vote on whether they wanted to make legal the importation of nuclear materials. Next, the Central Election Committee validates the signatures, and then the Supreme Court approves the procedure.