Approved For Re
Tuesday
October 20,
1992
/08/09
: CIA-RDP96-00792R0006001 20001 -8
Soviet News
Abstrocts
Publication
Published by
FOREIGN AEROSPACE
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER
Author:
Kovalenko,
Yuriy
(Paris)
Title:
RUSSIAN-FRENCH SPACE FLIGHT CON-
CLUDE^ FURTHER COLLABORATION PLANNED
Primary Source:
Izvestiya, August
TO,
1992,
No.
180
(23754),
p.
1,
cols.
3-4
Extract:
The Russian-French orbital
flight
ended
in complete success,
announced proj-
ect director Alain Labart at the French
National
Space Research Center
(CNES)
when
the joint crew had returned to Earth.
In particular,
the French remarked
that during the two-week flight,
nine of
ten planned research programs
and experi-
ments were carried out.
Commenting on the
flight,
they stressed,
not without sur-
prise,
the excellent work of the Russian
space technology,
including the
"Mir"
space
station.
As
a whole, judging by the amount of
coverage,
the flight was followed with much
greater attention
in France than
in our
Homeland.
A special
communications session
was
set
up for President
F.
Mitterand.
He
had
a
long conversation with Michel
Togni-
ni,
during which
he spoke
in favor of fur-
ther cooperation between
Paris and Moscow
in this
area.
The space odyssey was continuing when
Paris announced that by the year 2000,
four
more French cosmonauts were fly aboard Rus-
sian craft.
The first
is scheduled for
early
1994.
For each space ticket,
the
French will
pay the same amount
as
for this
flight:
73.2 million francs.
What goals does France set for partic-
ipating
in joint programs
and flights?
Primarily,
they are learning to live
in
weightlessness,
indicated Hubert Curien,
Minister of Space Research
and Exploita-
tion.
Also,
exceptionally important scien-
tific experiments will
be performed
in
flight.
Moreover,
cosmonauts,
according to
the minister,
will
acquire
'construction
skills.
More in-depth study of the human
body under extreme conditions
is underway.
Finally,
France and Russia are preparing
a
joint program to study the planet Mars.
The minister also expressed his hope that
an astronomical
observatory would be creat-
ed on the Moon early
in the next century.
The Russians possess unique experience
in the human
inhabitation of space,
Curien
stresses,
but now the cost of space sta-
tions
and delivery systems are so great
that Russia,
Europe and the United States
simply must join forces.
Russia,
the min-
ister said,
has been
invited to participate
in European space programs,
and
in particu-
lar,
in work on the development of the Her-
mes reusable spacecraft.
This participa-
tion
is of tremendous
importance for Europe
from the scientific,
technical,
economic
and political
standpoint.
(SNAP 921020)
*
*
*
Author:
Stefashin,
Oleg
(Karaganda
)
Title:
PROBLEM OF NUCLEAR HASTE DISPOSAL
IN KAZAKHSTAN
Primary Source:
Izvestiya, August
10,
1992,
No.
180
(23754),
p.
1,
cols.
3-6
Extract:
In Kazakhstan,
for lack of spe-
cial
burial
grounds,
spontaneous
radioac-
tive waste dumps have begun to grow.
Here's what
V.
Slavgorodskiy,
Head of
the Ministry of Ecology and Bioresources'
Radiation Ecology Administration,
stated
at
a scientific-practical
seminar on problems
of radioecology and radiation
safety:
"Radiation conditions
in the republic
are very alarming,
and they are continuing
to deteriorate.
Whereas before we experi-
enced practically no problems with radio-
active waste disposal
-- we trucked
it to
Chelyabinsk,
Krasnoyarsk,
or Zagorsk
-- now
we don't know what to do with
it.
Russia
refuses to take hazardous cargo,
and we
don't have any of our own so-called burial
grounds."
Approved For Release 2000/08/09
: CIA-RDP96-00792R000600120001-8
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Approved For Release 2000/08/09
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Kazakhstan's only radioactive waste
disposal
facility
is
located near Alma-Ata,
and belongs to the Institute of Nuclear
Physics.
But
it was built
in violation
of
one of the two main safety conditions
--
water impermeability —
and
in scientists'
opinion,
cannot be actively used.
Natural-
ly,
enterprises,
deprived of the ability to
eliminate contaminated waste on their own,
are dumping
it wherever they please,
and
special
services
do not always manage to
detect
it.
According to data from the Radiation
Ecology Administration,
the republic,
where
the largest radioactive materials mining
enterprises are located,
has already ac-
cumulated contaminated waste with
a total
power of over 200,000 curies.
This
is
nearly 70 times over the design standard,
and
as you can easily guess,
could
at
any
moment cause
a disruption of the ecological
equilibrium.
The government of Kazakhstan cannot be
said to have accepted this situation.
Ac-
cording to
L.
Artsev,
a chief specialist
at
the republic's State Economic Committee,
the Ministry of Ecology and Bioresources
has developed another program to build nu-
clear waste disposal
facilities.
It has
been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers,
but whether
it will
be implemented
is un-
clear.
(SNAP 921020)
*
*
*
*
Author:
Yakov,
Valeriy
Title:
RUMORS OF POSSIBLE FAILURE OF
CHERNOBYL
"SARCOPHAGUS " CALLED BASELESS
Primary Source:
Tzvestiya, August
JO,
1992,
No.
180
(23754),
p.
2,
cols.
1-3
Entire Text:
In recent days,
television
and
information agencies have stirred up
public opinion with
a report that
a cata-
strophic situation
is developing
at the
Chernobyl
NPP
(ChAES):
the "Covered Facil-
ity"
(popularly called the "Sarcophagus")
is actively failing and threatens
a power-
ful
radioactive emission.
We asked knowl-
edgeable experts with firsthand information
about Chernobyl
to comment on this
informa-
tion.
We should begin by saying that the
in-
formation on the explosive situation
at the
NPP did not appear on
its
own,
but belongs
to specific authors —
Yu.
Shcherbak,
di-
rector of the Ministry of Chernobyl
and
V.
Shcherbin,
director of the
"Covered
Facili-
ty."
Their alarming statements were the
cause of the new agitation over the Cher-
nobyl
matter.
In the opinion of Academician Spartak
Belyayev,
deputy director of the Institute
of Atomic Energy
imeni
Kurchatov,
the
Ukrainian specialists'
alarming statements
were most probably provoked by political
factors
and are conjectural
in nature.
Their aim was
less to draw attention to the
"Cover"
problem than to their own persons.
As for the actual
situation
at the
plant,
the group of research specialists
from the Institute
imeni
Kurchatov,
who
have worked
at the "Covered Facility"
prac-
tically
all
these years,
assert that no
serious changes that would give cause for
such threatening statements have occurred.
I
also succeeded
in contacting the
Chairman
of the Ukrainian State Committee
for Nuclear and Radiation Safety,
Nikolay
Shteynberg, who also confirmed that nothing
unexpected had occurred or was occurring at
ChAES.
The problem of the Sarcophagus,
of
course,
requires attention;
there are plen-
ty of problems that remain unsolved,
but
as
of today,
there
is no special
cause for
extraordinary alarms.
(SNAP 921020)
*
*
*
*
Author:
Kovalenko,
Yuriy
(Paris)
Title:
"RED MERCURT HOAX SOUNDS OUT
WESTERN NUCLEAR MARKET
Primary Source:
Tzvestiya,
August
10,
1992,
No.
180
(23754),
p.
3,
cols.
6-8
Extract:
Recently,
reports of
a new sub-
stance,
"red mercury," which has supposedly
enabled
a breakthrough
in nuclear technol-
ogy,
have been appearing more and more fre-
quently
in the pages of the Western press.
Some assert that
it was prepared by
scientists of the former Soviet Union.
Other scientists are convinced that
it
is
a
mirage.
Still
others think the discussion
concerns merely
an
isotope of mercury that
is used to enrich uranium.
Whatever
it
is,
both journalists
and special
services of
Western nations
are trying to guess the
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