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Russian Antinuclear Protester Killed In Siberia


Antinuclear protesters in Irkutsk in 2006 (ITAR-TASS) July 22, 2007 -- A 20-year-old antinuclear protester was killed when a group of some 15 masked attackers raided an environmentalist camp near a nuclear site in Siberia.


Russian media reported today that several other antinuclear protesters are still in the hospital with injuries.


The inhabitants of the camp, which is located near an international uranium-enrichment site in the Siberian town of Angarsk, near Irkutsk, had been protesting against nuclear waste for days.


The attack happened on July 21.


(dpa)

Russia's Nuclear Power Sector

Russia's Nuclear Power Sector

Click on the map to view the locations of Russia's civilian nuclear power plants.



POWER OF THE ATOM: As Russia's economy recovers from the collapse of the 1990s, the government is moving forward with plans to expand its nuclear-energy sector. Russia currently has 31 civilian nuclear-power reactors in operation, with the newest being Kalinin-3, which came on line in 2004. Nuclear power accounts for 16 percent of Russia's total power generation. Three additional reactors are currently under construction.

Many of Russia's reactors are quite old. In 2000, the government announced plans to extend the working lifetime of 12 first-generation reactors. So far, seven of these reactors have been upgraded for 15-year extensions and all 12 of them are expected to be replaced by 2020.

Russia controls about 4 percent of the world's known uranium deposits, producing some 2,900 tons of uranium in 2002. Russia has four operating uranium-enrichment plants, the largest of which is located at Novouralsk near Yekaterinburg.

The government has not yet approved a proposal for a permanent nuclear-waste storage facility on the Kola Peninsula.

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

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