Clock ticking on nuclear reactor cleanup

Latvia's Radiation Protection Center is urging the government not to delay plans to dismantle an aging nuclear reactor and find a safe way of storing 1,200 cubic meters of nuclear waste.

The longer it takes to dismantle the Soviet-built research reactor that operated near Salaspils, some 20 kilometers outside Riga, the more expensive and more dangerous it will become.

"The first year of delay could cost 20,000 lats (33,000 euros), but every year after that could see costs rise to 100,000 lats," said Radiation Protection Center director Andrejs Salmins, adding that the reactor has produced enough nuclear waste to make "about three atomic bombs."

The research reactor was built in 1961 in order to conduct neutron research and remained in operation until 1998.

The reactor remains under lock and key and is inspected annually by nuclear safety experts from Austria.

The government has said it wants it fully dismantled by 2008., and Latvia's Environment Ministry plans to announce a tender for helping to safely remove and store the nuclear waste.

Salmins said the total cost of the project could hit $30 million.

"We have to prepare our nuclear waste for treatment. There is radioactive water and concrete at the site. We have to find a way of storing this. Not only for a short time but for hundreds of years," said Salmins, speaking at a recent conference dedicated to handling liquid nuclear waste.

He also stressed training new workers to oversee security and clean-up.

"We have already dismantled some 8 percent of the reactor in preparatory stages," he said.

The seminar was organized by the center in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Specialists from 14 countries, mainly ex-Soviet republics, were on hand.

Latvia has long tried to negotiate a deal with Russia in which the latter would take back the nuclear waste from the Salaspils reactor, but Russian officials have balked.

"Russia at first voted that they would only take back fuel from those countries within the former Soviet Union that had an agreement on this issue," said Salmins. "But in reality, there never was such an agreement in the Soviet Union."

Nuclear waste handling began in Latvia in 1962. Latvian specialists have even trained some of their Danish counterparts in dealing with reactors similar to the one at Salaspils.

"We have a reasonable amount of experience on how to handle nuclear waste," said Ralfs Spade, head of the center's public relations department. "We have theoretical knowledge of how to reprocess reactor fuel."

There are few reprocessing plants since they come with a price tag starting at $1 billion.

Russia recently angered environmentalists by agreeing to import and store vast amounts of nuclear waste from Bulgaria.