MaximsNewsNetwork: 28 July 2009 - IAEA: The UN Nuclear Watchdog Agency is working with the Serbian government to clean up nuclear fuel which is contained in deteriorating barrels in the village of Vinca. The fuel was used for experiments in the 1950's and shut down in 1984, but still poses a danger to the community.
For decades, about two and a half tons of spent nuclear fuel has sat here in Serbia, at the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences.
The fuel was used for experiments beginning in the 1950s in a Soviet designed research reactor, before it shut down in 1984. Since then, the fuel has been stored in poor condition at the site, and its a danger to the people who live and work around Vinča .
The United Nations nuclear agency is now partnering with Serbia on a project to take care of the problem. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is working to secure and clean up Vinča.
But the task is arduous, the costs considerable, and there is pressure to finish the job soon.
In July, IAEA Director General Mohamed El Baradei visited Vinča.
SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General, IAEA:
What we have seen of course is that a lot of work needs to be done here, and we will continue to work with Serbia to make sure its done as soon as possible.
For decades, thousands of the fuel elements have sat cooling in a pool of water. But now the barrels that contain the fuel are beginning to deteriorate, and could cause contamination.
To decrease the risk, the safest option is to remove the fuel. So the IAEA is working together with Serbia, the EU, the Czech Republic, and other countries to ship the spent fuel back to Russia, where it initially came from.
SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General, IAEA:
The more we continue to keep the spent fuel in Vinča , which is corroding, which is degrading, the more the risk increases.
Located on the outskirts of Belgrade, Vinča also has two rusting warehouses filled with radioactive waste, from all over the former Yugoslavia.
The condition of the buildings poses a serious security risk, and threatens to contaminate local people and the environment. But a solution is in sight.
The IAEA helped to construct a new long-term storage facility, which was just completed with donations from the US, the EU and the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
The modern building will safely store the waste from the two older warehouses.
Area residents who live and work around Vinča are aware of the c lean-up efforts at the site.
One man runs a restaurant on the Danube, just minutes from Vinča.
SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Restaurant owner:
Ive lived here my whole life, and I know that in recent years there has been a lot of work done at Vinča . I dont think theres anything to be worried about regarding my health and the life of people living around Vinča.
It will take a few more years to repackage and return the spent nuclear fuel to Russia, and to remove the waste from the aging warehouses. Serbia also wants to eventually dismantle the reactor, but more funding is needed before that work can begin.
SOUNDBITE (English) Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General, IAEA:
We have been working hard to make sure that we move all of the spent fuel from Vinča and continue to work on the radiation problems that exist at Vinča , including the decommissioning of the reactor.
The project, which is the largest in the IAEAs history, is helping to move the world closer to realizing a vision where nuclear material is safe, secure, and accounted for.
MaximsNewsNetwork: News Network for the United Nations and the International Community. See: http://www.MaximsNews.com.
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Walking into a radioactive waste dumpby shootandscribble83,016 views
@0GreyWarden0
not all, 1000 minimum are still in vranje, nobady clining this aria
mil3211231 11 months ago
use them on the middle east that way the war is over and the terroist are done with easy
HelloMottoTaiKamu93 1 year ago
why on land!
dump it near crustal subduction zones in the deepest parts of the oceans! By doing so the waste gets sucked/burried by mother earth into the crust,then mantal,then core!
captinseperoth 1 year ago