Tuesday October 20, 1992 Published by Author: Kovalenko, Yuriy (Paris) Title: RUSSIAN-FRENCH SPACE FLIGHT CON- CLUDED; FURTHER COLLABORATION PLANNED Primary Source: Izvestiya, August 10, 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. Soviet News Abstracts Publication FOREIGN AEROSPACE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER 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 WASTE 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
Approved For Release 2000/08/09 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600120001-8 7 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: Izvestiya, August 10, 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 2 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- noby] 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) Titles "RED MERCURY" HOAX SOUNDS QUT WESTERN NUCLEAR MARKET Primary Source: Izvestiya, 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 Approved For Release 2000/08/09 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600120001-8
Approved For Release 2000/08/09 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600120001-8 friddle of “red mercury." The searches of reporters in France have been more productive. Paul Januchev- ski (obviously, the former Pavel Yanushev- skiy), a native of the Soviet Union, a chemist by trade, and director of the "Cofrachimie" company, located in a Paris suburb, asserts that he is the French rep- resentative of two Ukrainian centers where "red mercury" is produced. According to him, this is an “extremely strategic sub- stance, 98 percent of which is used for military purposes." It acts as a catalyst in a nuclear reaction, and can also be used for military purposes, including missile guidance systems. Paul Januchevski is of- fering clients a kilogram of “red mercury" for half a million dollars. "Red mercury" does not exist. It is only a hoax, guesses the Director of the National Defense Resources Council in Wash- ington, Thomas Cochrain. Its purpose is to sound out the nuclear market, find neces-- sary substances and preparations, and is a cover for various operations. Every time the subject of "red mercury" has come up, a deal has been concluded to purchase and sell uranium or heavy water in Italy, Swit- zerland, Germany, Norway, and other coun- tries. (SNAP 921020) * * * * Author: Alekseyeva, £. (Krasnodar) Titles PESTICIDE CONTAMINATION IN KRASNO- DAR KRAY BLAMED FOR HEALTH CRISIS Primary Source: Meditsinskaya gazeta, Au- gust 7, 1992, No. 62 (5287), p. 11, cols. 1-3 Extract: The pesticide Chernobyl -- that's what scientists call Kuban among them- selves. The chemical burden per hectare of arable land in Krasnodar Kray averages five times higher than values for Russia as a whole. As a result, the kray exceeds Rus- sian statistics for oncological diseases. The question of preserving the gene pool is acute. Scientists claim that in 10 or 15 years there will no longer be a concept of a ‘healthy child' or ‘healthy person’ here, and the native population is degenerating. Doctors have begun to address the problem with the most vulnerable point, the mother- 3 fetus-child system. By dint of enormous efforts, a Kray Clinical Scientific Metho- dological Mother and Child Center has been established in Krasnodar. Kuban has long been considered a gra- nary and health resort for al] Russia. Meanwhile, in private documents and at con- ferences and symposia on environmental pro- tection it has long been placed in a zone of ecological disaster, and scientists call Krasnodar Kray the ‘pesticide Chernobyl].' In view of the toxic and marked cumu- lative effect of pesticides using Spear- man's rank correlation, researchers have established that the correlation coeffi- cient between hemorrhage and the level of pesticide burden is 0.5, between anemia and the pesticide burden 0.8, and between ges- toses and the burden 0.9. All this indi- cates a definite relationship between the level of pesticide burden and gynecological morbidity. "In the past ten years, over 15,000 children under the age of one have died in Krasnodar Kray," explains Docent L. Niku- lin, deputy director of the Pediatrics Cen- ter. “The city of Krasnodar accounts for a fifth of them. But the worst thing is that at least 70 percent of the children could have been saved. What are the reasons for this low work efficiency? There's the pov- erty of our health care, there are physi- cian errors, and there are artificially broken ties between practical health care and researchers. The Mother and Child Cen- ter is a real step to combine the forces of researchers and practitioners in solving the kray's biggest problem. It will devel- op and introduce new diagnostic, therapeu- tic, and rehabilitation technologies. And this is quite realistic." A program of ecological protection of pregnant women and children under the age of one has been developed in the kray. Its essence lies in preserving the gene pool from ecological debauchery, or at least protecting the children. Workers here pro- pose to create an industry of ecologically clean nutrition for children, with rigid control of product quality, and to furnish it to pregnant women and children under the age of one. Such a program must be adopted at the governmental level; all proposals are supported by doctors in the ecological disaster areas. Otherwise, well, the doc- Approved For Release 2000/08/09 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000600120001-8