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Novaya Zemlya
12th Main Directorate of the
Ministry of Defense
Chief: Rear Admiral Viktor Shevchenko
In 1954, the Soviet Union established its largest
nuclear testing grounds at Novaya Zemlya.[1,2]. During the testing program,
the Soviet Union conducted tests at different sites in several zones, the
numbers and designations of which frequently changed.[3] Most of
the testing was consolidated in three zones at Novaya Zemlya (please see the map of Novaya Zemlya). At Zone A
in the Chernaya Gulf region, low- and medium-yield atmospheric explosions,
and underwater and surface nuclear tests were staged from 1955-1962. After
1963, six underground tests were staged.[3] From 1964 through 1990,
nuclear tests were conducted in deep underground shafts in Zone B on the
Gulf of Matochkin Shar's southern bank.[2,3] Zone B also houses the test
site's administrative and scientific center.[3] Zone C, where
atmospheric tests were conducted from 1957 through 1962, is located on Sukhoy
Nos peninsula, north of Matochkin Shar strait. In February 1992,
President Boris Yeltsin signed the decree On the Test Site at Novaya
Zemlya, designating the official name of the site as the Central Test
Site of the Russian Federation.
Testing:
From 1955 to 1990, the Soviet Union conducted 130
nuclear tests--88 atmospheric, 39 underground, and 3 underwater tests--at
Novaya Zemlya. The Soviet Union/Russia has not conducted a nuclear test
since 24 October 1990.[1,2] A nuclear test moratorium was initially announced
by President Gorbachev in October 1991. On 19 October 1992, Russian President
Boris Yeltsin extended the moratorium to July 1993. On 3 July 1993, President
Yeltsin extended the moratorium through September 1994. The test moratorium
was extended indefinitely in January 1995. Russia signed the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty on 24 September 1996 and ratified it on 27 May 2000.[3,4,5]
Russia conducts hydrodynamic or subcritical tests at the country's only
remaining internal test site, which is located on the Gulf of Matochkin
Shar. Using hydrodynamic tests, scientists examine the fissile materials
in stockpiled nuclear munitions to study the service life, reliability
and safety of the munitions.[6] Russia staged seven non-nuclear explosions
in 1999 and one subcritical test in January 2000.[7] (For details, see
development from 30 May 2000 below.)
(See also the entries under Russia:
Treaties: CTBT and Nuclear Testing Developments.)
Other Activities:
Apart from nuclear tests,
the Novaya Zemlya test site has been
evaluated as a site for a range of other activities, including nuclear waste
storage. For more than a decade, Russia has been considering the storage of low-, medium-, and
high-level radioactive waste, as well as spent fuel and nuclear reactors from
nuclear submarines, on Novaya Zemlya. The first plans, for the storage of low-
and medium-radioactive waste, including cesium and cobalt, were developed in
1991 by the All-Russian Scientific Research and Design Institute of Industrial
Technology (VNIPI Promtekhnologii) and the
All-Russian Scientific Research and
Design Institute of Energy Technology (VNIPIET). A site on the south of the
southern island, north of Bashmachnaya Bay, was selected, and construction of the storage
site included in the special federal program "On the Treatment of Radioactive
Waste and Spent Nuclear Materials, Their Recycling, and Their Disposal from
1996-2005."[1,2,3,4] According to current plans, the facility will house
radioactive waste from Northern Fleet nuclear-powered submarines
in addition to
waste in temporary storage at the Mironova Gora site near
Severodvinsk,
Arkhangelsk Oblast. Public hearings regarding construction of the facility
were carried out in 2001, and a positive environmental impact assessment was
completed in March 2002. Construction will cost an estimated $73 million
and take three to four years.[5] Russian environmental groups are
protesting against the facility, saying that spending levels are too low to
implement adequate safety measures, and that Novaya Zemlya lacks the
infrastructure for constant radiation monitoring.[6]
A large solid radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel storage facility may also
be built on Novaya Zemlya. By May 2001, five 300-meter test shafts had already been
drilled to test radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel burying
technologies.[7] The waste would be stored underground in cement-lined
shafts that are 90 meters deep. Novaya Zemlya was chosen because of its permafrost conditions:
groundwater can be found only at a depth of 600 meters. According to Nikolay Lobanov,
scientific head of the project, the shafts can withstand a 150-megaton (MT) nuclear
explosion and a 7.0 earthquake.[8] The project has been ordered by
Atomredmetzoloto, and a design drafted by VNIPI Promtekhnologii; its main
subcontractors are VNIPIET and Gidrospetsgeologiya.[5,9] The facility’s
projected capacity is 50,000 cubic meters. An international consortium,
consisting of Deutsche Gesellschaft zum Bau und Betrieb von
Endlagern fuer Abfallstoffe mbH (Germany),
Gesellschaft fuer Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit
mbH (Germany), Posiva Oy (Finland),
AEA Technology (United Kingdom),
Institutt for energi teknikk
(Norway), and Svensk Kaernbraenslehantering AB
(Sweden), is assessing the project's safety.[7] Environmentalists oppose
the plan due to safety concerns and fears that imported spent nuclear
fuel may eventually be stored at the site. Arkhangelsk Governor Anatoliy
Yefremov has denied this, saying that all wastes will originate in northwest
Russia.[6]
Another proposal for dealing with the problem of spent fuel, nuclear reactors,
and radioactive waste from nuclear-powered submarines involves the use of
underground nuclear explosions to vitrify the spent fuel and radioactive waste
in tunnels at the Central Atomic Test Site on Novaya Zemlya. The proposal,
first introduced in 1994, soon met with opposition over the possibility that the
explosions might violate the CTBT. Nevertheless, at
the request of then-president Boris Yeltsin, the
Central Physical-Technical Institute (TsFTI)
in Sergiyev Posad developed techniques for implementing the project, which never
came to fruition.[10] In June 1999, TsFTI Chief Scientific Associate Leonid
Yevterev and several other scientists published an article in Nezavisimoye
voyennoye obozreniye, again making an argument for the implementation of
their plan.[11]
6/30/2002: RUMYANTSEV: NUCLEAR
TESTS MAY RESUME IN FUTURE
On 30 June 2002, after his joint trip with
Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov to the
Novaya Zemlya archipelago, Minister of Atomic Energy Aleksandr Rumyantsev told
ITAR-TASS that maintaining the Central Test Site of the Russian Federation on
Novaya Zemlya was a matter of national security and necessary to maintain
Russia's status as a
nuclear state. He said that nuclear testing may well resume in
future in response to political developments elsewhere in the world.[1] According
to Sergey Ivanov, who inspected the security arrangements at the testing ground,
Russia has no plans to resume full-scale nuclear testing but intends to maintain
and upgrade the existing testing infrastructure.[2]
6/27/2002: MINISTER OPPOSES
CONSTRUCTION OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE DEPOSITORY ON NOVAYA ZEMLYA
On 27 June 2002, Minister of
Atomic Energy Aleksandr Rumyantsev
told ITAR-TASS
that he opposed the construction of a radioactive waste burial site on
the Novaya Zemlya
archipelago as it would involve
granting access to territories surrounding the
Central Test Site of
the Russian Federation to foreign inspectors.[1] In addition, he noted that although Sweden and Finland host
similar facilities, their waste depositories are located in granite rock
formations, while Novaya Zemlya's
limestone bedrock is unsuitable for waste disposal. Minatom is now considering
three alternative sites in continental Russia: in Arkhangelsk
Oblast, near Murmansk,
and on the Kola peninsula. According to Rumyantsev,
the cost of a future facility, if built on the mainland, would be four times
lower.[2]
Sources:
5/22/2002: MINATOM PLANS TO BUILD
RADIOACTIVE WASTE
BURIAL FACILITY ON NOVAYA ZEMLYA
On 22 May 2002, Minatom's
board discussed the construction of a burial facility for low- and medium-level radioactive waste on Novaya Zemlya. According to Minatom's press
service, the archipelago's Yuzhnyy island was selected to store waste from
nuclear submarines and icebreakers belonging to the
Russian Northern Fleet, including
radioactive waste accumulated in the
Mironova Gora temporary
storage facility near Severodvinsk. The new waste
depository will allow the reduction of radioactive materials in Arkhangelsk and Murmansk
Oblasts. The estimated cost of the future facility, to be built in 36 months, is
$73 million. A positive state environmental impact statement was completed in
2002. An international consortium that
includes Sweden and Norway has also endorsed the project. Detailed engineering will start
in 2002.
5/22/2001: SOLID RADWASTE AND SPENT FUEL STORAGE FACILITY
PLANNED FOR NOVAYA ZEMLYA
Plans to build a large solid radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel storage
facility on Novaya
Zemlya, Arkhangelsk Oblast, are moving ahead. As of 22 May 2001, five 300m
test shafts had been drilled to test radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel
burying technologies.[1] The
facility will be used to store waste from Arkhangelsk and Murmansk
Oblasts. It will be constructed on a 10-hectare site 17km from Bashmachnaya
Bay, on the southern coast of Novaya Zemlya.
The waste will be stored underground in 90m cement-lined shafts. Novaya Zemlya was chosen
because
of its permafrost conditions: groundwater can be found only at a depth
of 600m. According to Nikolay Lobanov, scientific head of the project, the
shafts can withstand a 150MT nuclear explosion and a 7.0 earthquake.[2] The
project was ordered by Atomredmetzoloto; the design was drafted by
VNIPI Promtekhnologii; the main
subcontractors are VNIPIET
and Gidrospetsgeologiya. The facility should be completed in 36 months.
Its projected capacity is 50,000m3. One estimate for the facility's
construction puts the cost at 1.548 billion rubles (over $53 million as of 22 May 2001).[1]
A higher estimate, provided at an international seminar on nuclear submarine
dismantlement problems held in Arkhangelsk in July 2001, put the likely cost at $80
million. As of July, a working draft for the construction of a facility
to house low- and medium-level radioactive wastes, including cesium and
cobalt, was nearly complete.[3] An international consortium,
consisting of Deutsche
Gesellschaft zum Bau und Betrieb von Endlagern fuer Abfallstoffe mbH
(Germany), Gesellschaft fuer
Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit mbH (Germany), Posiva
Oy (Finland), AEA
Technology (United Kingdom), Institutt
for energi teknikk (Norway), and Svensk
Kaernbraenslehantering AB (Sweden), is assessing the project's safety.[1]
9/3/2000: THREE SUBCRITICAL NUCLEAR TESTS STAGED IN
LATE AUGUST-EARLY SEPTEMBER 2000
On 28 and 31 August and 3 September 2000 Minatom and
the Russian Ministry of Defense conducted three subcritical nuclear tests at Novaya Zemlya.[1,2]
Plutonium of various ages was used to
assess the aging of
munitions.[1,2] The purpose of the tests was to determine whether prolonging the service life of nuclear
warheads is possible. During the Soviet
era, the plutonium in all nuclear warheads was replaced every six to10 years to
ensure good performance of the device; today funding shortfalls do not
allow Russia the same rate of plutonium replacement.
Aleksey Yablokov, former environmental advisor to President Yeltsin,
did not rule out that the experiments could also serve to improve and
design new nuclear weapon devices.[1] Gazeta.ru echoed this assumption by
quoting unnamed Russian experts, who believe that the tests could
support research on new ignition devices for nuclear warheads, which could lead to the creation of the
next generation of weapons.[2] According to Minatom spokesman Yuriy
Bespalko, each tested device contained
100g of weapon-grade plutonium.[1,2]
5/30/2000: MINATOM: SUBCRITICAL
TESTING WILL CONTINUE AT NOVAYA ZEMLYA AFTER CTBT RATIFICATION
On 30 May 2000, the Minatom
press service stated that Russia's 27 May 2000 ratification of the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) would not end its practice of conducting subcritical
tests at Novaya Zemlya. According to an official at Minatom, Russia conducts
subcritical tests to ensure that nuclear materials are being stored safely
and the source contended that "calculations and computer programs alone
cannot make this certain."[1] Russia has not carried out any nuclear tests
since October 1990. It staged seven non-nuclear explosions in 1999
and the most recent subcritical test was conducted in January 2000.[2]
11/10/99: GOVERNMENT TO GRANT NOVAYA ZEMLYA NATIONAL
PARK STATUS
On 10 November 1999, Novyye izvestiya reported
that the Russian government will announce plans by the end of 1999 to turn
several hundred thousand hectares of Novaya Zemlya into the country's first
arctic national park. The paper further reported that the archipelago's
restricted status under the Soviet and Russian nuclear testing programs
actually helped to restore indigenous populations of animals decimated
by local hunters, including walruses and polar bears. Radiation released
during the nuclear tests and radioactive wastes that were sunk off shore
contributed to serious environmental contamination at Novaya Zemlya, and
the government plan to open up the archipelago to tourists does not include
plans for dealing with the radioactive waste. Reportedly, background radiation
levels on the archipelago are considered safe at all but a few areas around
the test site, and the park itself does not include any contaminated areas.
According to Novyye izvestiya, the military will permit small groups
of researchers and "well heeled aficionados of northern flora and fauna"
access to bunkers and territory adjacent to the testing areas at Novaya
Zemlya. Environmentalists are also lobbying Russian officials to create
a larger nature preserve, which would cover almost a million hectares and
include Franz Josef Land and part of the Kola Peninsula coast.
5/99: PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY FOR SUBCRITICAL TESTS
As of early May, a document authorizing subcritical
tests at Novaya Zemlya was awaiting President Boris Yeltsin's signature,
according to comments by Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy Adamov reported
in Nezavisimoye voyennoye obozreniye. The article also cites Colonel
General Igor Valynkin, Chief of the 12th Main Directorate of the Ministry
of Defense as stating that the results of the five tests conducted at the
Novaya Zemlya test site in 1998 may allow the modernization of older warheads
so that they can remain in service until as late as 2007. After that
time, according to Valynkin, a massive reduction in deployed nuclear warheads
would take place. (Valynkin is referring to plans under the Helsinki accords
to delay full implementation of the START II treaty to 2007, although removal
of warheads from launchers scheduled to be destroyed under START II is
to be carried out by the end of 2003.) The article also claimed that
the priority of the tests to be conducted at Novaya Zemlya in 1999 will
be higher, and the amount of money to be spent on them will be substantially
greater, than in 1998.
4/29/99: RUSSIAN SECURITY COUNCIL CONSIDERS NUCLEAR
TESTING AND STOCKPILE
The Russian Security Council meeting of 29 April
1999 considered the reliability and maintenance of nuclear weapons, including
the issue of nuclear testing. For more information please see the
Overview:
The April 1999 Russian Federation Security Council Meeting on Nuclear Weapons.
4/99: MEETING OF MINATOM SCIENTIFIC
TECHNICAL COUNCIL DISCUSSES PROPOSED RADWASTE STORAGE PROJECT
In its April 1999 issue, Atompressa reported
that Minatom's Scientific-Technical
Council voted to continue designing an experimental radioactive waste storage
facility on the southernmost island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. The
Council also voted to include possible global warming scenarios in the
safety evaluation for the proposed repository, which would be used to bury
low- and medium-level radioactive waste from submarines, icebreakers, and
nuclear enterprises in northern Russia. Opponents have questioned whether
the repository could operate safely and have advocated locating
a storage facility in Murmansk Oblast or Arkhangelsk Oblast.
The project's supporters from the All-Russian
Research, Planning and Surveying Institute of Production Technology
(VNIPI Promtekhnologii), the All-Russian
Scientific Research and Design Institute of Energy Technology (VNIPIET),
Minatom, and the Russian Academy of Sciences argue that burying radioactive
waste in Novaya Zemlya's nonporous, permanently frozen rock would prevent
leakage of the waste from the repository, thus ensuring safe long-term
storage. Moreover, the proposed location is far from population and industrial
centers and the area has no prospects for economic development. According
to VNIPI Promtekhnologii Director Vladimir Lopatin, the radioactive waste
storage facility will have an initial storage capacity of 50,000 cubic
meters, and construction costs are estimated at $110-130 million. First
Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy and Scientific Council Chairman Viktor
Mikhailov conceded that Novaya Zemlya may not be the optimal site for locating
a storage facility because radioactive waste would have to be transported
by sea. Mikhailov also expressed concern that there is little control over
radioactive waste buried in permafrost, but he stressed that the project
needed to be completed because northern Russia needs a storage facility.
He added that a second facility may be built and noted that this facility
could be located at Kola or another part of continental northern Russia.
2/18/99: MINATOM PROPOSES 1999 SUBCRITICAL TEST
SERIES
According to Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy Adamov,
the Russian ministries of defense and atomic energy have prepared a report
on subcritical testing plans for 1999 that was to be presented to President
Boris Yeltsin. Adamov noted that if the report was approved the subcritical
testing work would proceed.
.
1/24/99: RUSSIA DEVELOPING NEW TACTICAL NUCLEAR
WARHEAD?
According to a report in the Washington Post,
citing US government intelligence analysts, three subcritical tests conducted
in Russia in 1998 may have been intended to help design a new generation
of tactical nuclear warheads. [The basis for singling out three of
the reported five tests was not indicated.] However, the report also
quoted a US intelligence official as stating that "the Russian tests were
so small that we can only speculate what they were doing." Brookings
Institution analyst Bruce Blair noted that Russia recycles (or remanufactures)
its nuclear weapons on a 10-year cycle and that old tactical nuclear weapons
are being replaced by new ones. [For additional information on this
topic please see the 1/14/99 entry below. For more information on
new tactical nuclear weapons please see the Tactical
Nuclear Weapons file.]
1/14/99: RESULTS OF 1998 SUBCRITICAL TESTS REVIEWED,
WARHEAD MODERNIZATION DISCUSSED
According to the Russian military newspaper Krasnaya
zvedza, Russia conducted five subcritical or "hydrodynamic" tests at
the Novaya Zemlya nuclear test site between 14 September and 13 December
1998 in order to test the reliability of current nuclear weapon designs.
The Krasnaya zvezda article, based on interviews with First Deputy
Minister of Atomic Energy Lev Ryabev, and the chief of the Department of
Development and Testing of Nuclear Warheads, Nikolay Voloshin, summarizes
the goals and results of the controversial series of subcritical tests.
The tests were all conducted underground at the Novaya Zemlya site, and
were designed not to result in a nuclear chain reaction. The total
explosive yield of the tests was reported as having an energy release equivalent
to 10kg of TNT, presumably due to the chemical explosive component
of the nuclear warhead being tested. [Subcritical or hydrodynamic
tests are defined as those which do not trigger a nuclear yield, hence
the nuclear energy released from this series of tests should be negligible.
For a Russian discussion of the distinction between these tests and the
more powerful "hydronuclear" tests, which do release nuclear energy in
the kilogram-TNT range, see article by Vladimir Belous cited below.
Hydronuclear tests are prohibited by the CTBT, and Russian authorities
have denied that they have conducted any such tests.] According to
Ryabev, tests of warhead components and electronics are conducted at "internal"
Minatom facilities in the closed cities (presumably at facilities in Snezhinsk
and Sarov), but these need to be supplemented
by subcritical tests of the assembled components. In the subcritical tests
the amount of fissile material is reduced so as to prevent a nuclear chain
reaction, but the device is in all other respects a functional nuclear
warhead. These devices are to produce no more than a 0.1 micro-kilogram
[sic] TNT energy-equivalent due to nuclear reactions, and the tests are
conducted in such a manner as to be environmentally safe. The warheads
tested in 1998 had been in service for 13 to 14 years. [Most estimates
of the standard service life of a Russian nuclear device are in the range
of 10 to 15 years, suggesting that these weapons were near the end of their
service life.] Ryabev told Krasnaya zvezda that the tests
were successful and that the result would be the modernization of the non-nuclear
components of the warheads, particularly the chemical explosives and electronics.
According to Voloshin, the fissile material component would remain unchanged
because modernizing it would make "no sense." The cost of the testing program
for 1998 was estimated at 30-40 million rubles (approximately $1.5 million
at late 1998 exchange rates) out of Minatom's total military nuclear budget
of 2 billion rubles (approximately $90 million).
12/16/98: TEST SITE'S EXISTENCE THREATENED BY INSUFFICIENT FUNDING
At hearings in the State Duma, the head of the Defense Ministry's 12th
Main Directorate, Igor Valynkin, testified that the existence of the Novaya
Zemlya test site was threatened due to insufficient funding. According
to Valynkin, just ten percent of the requisite amount was allocated for
test site maintenance in 1998. He also stressed the need for
the Duma to expedite the approval of legislation related to the nuclear
weapons complex.
12/8/98: RUSSIA CONDUCTS SUB-CRITICAL TEST AT NOVAYA ZEMLYA
Russia conducted a sub-critical nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya on 8 December
1998. According to Russia's Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy Adamov,
the purpose of the test was to ensure the safety and reliability of the
nuclear weapons. Sub-critical tests do not violate the CTBT.[1,2] Russia
intends to carry out additional sub-critical tests by the end of 1998 and
in 1999.[1,3]
10/98: MINATOM CONFIRMS THAT SUB-CRITICAL NUCLEAR TESTS WILL BE CONDUCTED
AT NOVAYA ZEMLYA THIS FALL
Western journalists and environmentalists have reported that Russia might
be preparing to carry out nuclear weapons tests in fall 1998.[1]
(See the seismic event overview for more information
regarding previous concerns.) There has been some confusion over
the nature of the tests, since some journalists did not point out that
the planned tests will be sub-critical (using a small amount of plutonium
and therefore not resulting in a real nuclear explosion)[2], and therefore
not prohibited by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.[1] Russia has
been conducting these tests since 1995 and they are performed by the United
States as well.[3] Even though sub-critical tests do not violate
the CTBT, they might influence other countries' decisions to conduct nuclear
tests. Responding to the questions raised by the international
mass media, Yevgeniy Adamov, the Minister of Atomic Energy, confirmed that
Russia is conducting sub-critical experiments at Novaya Zemlya, in addition
to computer simulations.[4] Colonel-General Igor Valynkin, the head of
the Defense Ministry's 12th Main Directorate, which oversees nuclear weapons,
further emphasized that Russia does not plan to conduct full-scale tests
and stressed Russia's adherence to the CTBT. Valynkin also acknowledged
that Russia is ready to resume full-scale nuclear testing in case any current
CTBT member backs out of the treaty.[5]
9/5/98: SERVICEMEN TAKE HOSTAGES IN NOVAYA ZEMLYA
In an incident on Novaya Zemlya, a group of five servicemen stationed at
the Central Test Site took hostages while on duty.[1, 2, 3, 5, 6] (Other
sources indicate that four or six servicemen were involved in the incident.[4,
7]) The servicemen, all of Dagestani origin, took around 50 hostages and
threatened to execute them unless their demands were met, which included
the procurement of weapons and a plane to carry them to Dagestan.[3, 7]
The incident was apparently related to a bomb explosion that occurred one
day earlier in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan.[4, 6] The explosion
killed 17 people, and one of the servicemen stationed in Novaya Zemlya
feared that his relatives might have been included in that number. The
serviceman, by his own account, wished to return immediately to Makhachkala,
and his four comrades decided to join him out of solidarity.[6] The incident
began when the five servicemen killed a sentry guard in Belushya Guba and
took his weapons.[7] Next they commandeered a bus and drove to the nearby
village of Rogachevo, where they stormed a local school, taking 40 children,
six teachers and the school's headmaster hostage. At this point, they demanded
weapons and a plane to carry them to Dagestan.[1, 3, 6, 7] During the ensuing
negotiations, the head of Russia's Central Nuclear Test Site, Rear Admiral
Viktor Shevchenko, offered himself as a voluntary hostage in exchange for
the release of some of the children and schoolteachers. The five servicemen
accepted his offer, and Shevchenko was voluntarily joined by several more
of his staff.[3, 4, 7] When further negotiations failed, the Russian Federal
Security Service (FSB) stormed the school and captured the five servicemen.[1,
2, 6, 7] None of the hostages or FSB troops were hurt seriously in the
takeover, but one of the servicemen did sustain injuries.[3, 7] The five
servicemen all served in Unit 707510, which is subordinate to the Defense
Ministry's 12th Main Directorate, the unit responsible for nuclear safety
in the Russian armed forces.[1] Regional Security Chief Sergey Poskrebetyev
stated that the men had no access to nuclear weapons.[7] The servicemen
have been charged with several crimes, including murder and terrorism.[2,
4, 7]
8/98: OFFICIALS VISIT NOVAYA ZEMLYA, NOTE SERIOUS PROBLEMS
A group of senior Russian officials, including First Deputy Defense Minister
Nikolay Mikhaylov, Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy Adamov, and Deputy
Finance Minister Andrey Astakhov visited the Novaya Zemlya Test Site on
29-30 July 1998.[1] While the officials noted that the test site is prepared
to carry out its tasks, they also noted that the government must resolve
serious problems that could affect Novaya Zemlya's operations.[1, 2]
3/31/98: FEASIBILITY STUDY
FOR NOVAYA ZEMLYA WASTE FACILITY REVIEWED
The feasibility study for a proposed radioactive
waste and spent fuel reprocessing facility on Novaya Zemlya was reviewed
at a conference in Moscow convened by Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy
N. N. Yegorov on 31 March 1998. Arkhangelsk Oblast Environmental
Protection Committee Chairman Anatoliy Petrovich Minyayev represented Arkhangelsk
Oblast at the conference. The feasibility study was prepared by two
Minatom institutes. The study's economic assessment, the main addition
to the original 1994 proposal, demonstrates that it will be more economical
to dispose of waste in Russia than abroad. Despite the facts that
engineers' soil surveys are not complete and Minatom has not addressed
60 observations from a 1994 environmental impact study, project architects
state that the proposed facility will be safe.
In 1994, two proposals were made for the location
of a new waste facility: the bedrock of the Kola Peninsula and the Novaya
Zemlya archipelago. At that time, the only decision made was that liquid
radioactive waste would be processed at Atomflot
facilities. Since then, the Kola Peninsula facility proposal has been waived
in favor of the Novaya Zemlya proposal, which is thought to have been more
thoroughly prepared.
Funding sources remain controversial. A special federal
program for radioactive waste and spent fuel treatment, reprocessing, and
storage until 2005 will provide partial financing for the project.
The Arkhangelsk newspaper Volna expressed concern that Minatom cited
the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk Oblast budgets as funding sources for the
facility since the facilities that required the waste processing services
are state owned. Minyayev explained that local funding could take
the form of donated land or services, and that local administrations may
be able to fund the disposal of ionizing radiation sources used in hospitals
and fire-safety devices.
Project architects are scheduled to visit Arkhangelsk
in May and June in order to report on the project to local engineers and
to the public. Minyayev hopes that local specialists will participate in
an environmental impact study. At the Northwest Economic Association
conference to be held in Murmansk in June, local authorities plan to discuss
the radioactive waste situation in the region. Following the conference,
meetings with Murmansk residents are planned in order to come to consensus
about a radioactive waste facility in the region.
10/23/97: MINATOM PLANS NEW SOLID WASTE FACILITY ON NOVAYA ZEMLYA
For details, please see the 10/23/97
entry in the Naval
Reactor Northern Fleet Waste Developments file.
8/28/97: SUSPECTED NUCLEAR TEST NEAR NOVAYA ZEMLYA
For details of this event, please see the overview, "The
"Seismic Event" at Novaya Zemlya: Earthquake or Nuclear Test?"
5/6/97: SCIENTISTS PROPOSE UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS TO VITRIFY
SPENT FUEL AND RADIOACTIVE WASTE
For details, please see the 5/6/97
entry in the Naval Radioactive
Waste Developments file.
4/2/97: PLANS TO BUILD A NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE FACILITY ON NOVAYA ZEMLYA
Russia proposes to build a terminal radioactive waste storage facility
on Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean. The facility would store various
types of radioactive waste from northern Russia. The proximity of the storage
facility to northern Russia would decrease the distance that radioactive
waste would have to be transported. Russia has already begun technical
studies of Novaya Zemlya for the venture, but researchers continue to wait
for adequate funding. Plans for construction of the facility and research
on how waste should be isolated are ongoing. Nikolay Lobanov, laboratory
chief at the VNIPI in Moscow, believes that Novaya Zemlya would be an appropriate
terminal storage location for radioactive waste because the region is already
highly polluted with radiation. In addition, Lobanov asserts that the permafrost
in Novaya Zemlya makes storage of radioactive waste more secure. However,
Gosatomnadzor Deputy Managing Director Aleksandr Dimitriyev fears that
permafrost may not be a secure condition for radioactive waste storage.
Dimitriyev referred to the greenhouse effect as one potential danger of
relying on permafrost, which may warm and melt over time. Dimitriyev also
sees disadvantages with terminal storage because it would eliminate Novaya
Zemlya as a military testing ground. The major difficulty to date remains
uncertainty of adequate funding.
7/27/96: MIKHAILOV VISITS NOVAYA ZEMLYA NUCLEAR TEST SITE
Minister of Atomic Energy Industry Victor Mikhailov visited the Central
Nuclear Test site at Novaya Zemlya. Mikhailov, together with representatives
of the Ministry of Defense, was inspecting the site to check on the implementation
of presidential and governmental resolutions calling for the site to be
maintained in readiness to conduct nuclear tests.
3/9/96: NORWAY: RUSSIA DID NOT CONDUCT NUCLEAR TEST ON NOVAYA ZEMLYA
Norwegian Foreign Minister Bjoern Tore Godal refuted the 3/7/96 US allegation
that Russia conducted a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya. The Norwegian Radiation
Safety Institute and Norwegian Seismological Service confirmed that they
had not detected any testing, even of the smallest yield.
3/7/96: POSSIBLE RUSSIAN NUCLEAR TEST ON NOVAYA ZEMLYA
US Secretary of Defense Perry, testifying before the US Congress, stated
that there was "some evidence" that Russia may have conducted a low-yield
nuclear test at the Novaya Zemlya test site in mid-January 1996. However,
US Department of State Spokesman Nicholas Burns denied that Russia has
conducted any tests, stating that "we believe the moratorium continues."
1989: FUNDS FOR REPAIR OF NOVAYA ZEMLYA TUNNELS REQUESTED
After the Semipalatinsk test site in Kazakhstan was closed, nuclear officials
requested 3.8 billion rubles for rehabilitating underground testing tunnels
at the Novaya Zemlya test site.
Last updated 30 July 2003Comments or questions? Contact Elena Sokova at MIIS
CNS: esokova@miis.edu
This material is produced independently for NTI
by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the
Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has
not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers,
employees, agents. Copyright © 2003 by MIIS.
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