Publication Laka-library:
Rosatom's Mayak: More Reprocessing, More Contamination

AuthorGreenpeace CEE, J.Haverkamp
-
DateSeptember 2017
Classification 2.34.8.80/21 (RUSSIA - MAYAK/CHELYABINSK (incl. Disaster Kyshtym Urals 1957))
Front

From the publication:

ROSATOM’S MAYAK: MORE REPROCESSING, MORE CONTAMINATION
Editor: Jan Haverkamp
Publisher and copyright:
Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe
© Greenpeace 2017

September 29, 2017 is the 60th anniversary of the Mayak or Kyshtym explosion 
in Russia - the third largest nuclear accident in history. The consequences 
of this disaster are still present today, made worse by ongoing radioactive 
discharges.
Mayak, located in the Southern Urals, is one of the largest nuclear complexes 
in the world. The Rosatom site operates a facility for reprocessing spent 
nuclear fuel and radioactive waste management. Rosatom is the Russian state 
nuclear energy corporation, comprising both its military and civil nuclear 
industry.
Nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor to the point where 
it is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction is called spent fuel. 
Reprocessing is extracting fissionable materials including uranium and 
plutonium from spent fuel, which leaves behind a reduced volume of high-level 
radioactive solid waste, newly created high-level liquid wastes and large 
volumes of liquid and solid low- and mid-level waste.

Sixty-years after the Mayak disaster, radioactive contamination still puts 
nearby communities at risk. Water and fish samples taken by the Greenpeace 
Radiation Protection Advisors team under responsibility of Greenpeace Central 
and Eastern Europe in 2017 were found to exceed Russian regulatory limits. 
Despite this ongoing contamination, Rosatom has been increasing operations at 
the site. Increased reprocessing in Mayak cannot but add to the existing 
contamination of the environment.

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