Russia is increasing security at nuclear power plants throughout the country, with an additional focus on the Rostovskaya and Novoronezhskaya plants located near Chechnya, the head of Russia’s nuclear safety agency said yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 30, 2002).

“Now and then (Chechen warlord Shamil) Basayev and others declare that attacks on nuclear facilities are inevitable,” said Yury Vishnevsky, head of Gosatomnadzor, overseer of Russia’s nuclear power industry.  “Information from the power agencies indicates that there have been attempted attacks,” he added.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, Gosatomnadzor has screened nuclear plant employees more carefully, Vishnevsky said.  Beginning in 2002, each plant employee that operates equipment must first pass a set of tests and receive a license from the agency, according to Russia’s St. Petersburg Times.  The agency also conducted 11,449 inspections last year, which found 12,294 violations, Vishnevsky said, adding that the total was less than those found in 2001 (St. Petersburg Times, Feb. 21).

Vishnevsky also said yesterday that Russia needed to reform its nuclear material stockpile accounting and safeguards systems (see GSN, Feb. 12).

“The current accounting system needs serious improvement,” Vishnevsky said.  “In many companies the system is the same as how it was in our grandparents’ time, when a woman sits with a book and writes down how much she gave to whom,” he added.

Russia’s spent-fuel reprocessing plant, located at the Mayak nuclear facility, could reobtain its operating license by the end of next month, Vishnevsky said (see GSN, Jan. 14).  The plant has been closed because of concerns that radioactive wastes were contaminating area water supplies.

“We have a few more questions, and if they answer them, we will give a license by the end of March,” Vishnevsky said (Reuters/Environmental News Network, Feb. 21).

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