MURMANSK. Oct 7 (Interfax-Northwest) - Representatives of the Russia-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee have monitored the handling of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste in the Murmansk region.
The Norwegian Bellona environmental organization initiated the monitoring, sources in the Murmansk regional administration's committee for conversion, nuclear and radiation safety told Interfax on Monday.
In particular, the committee members visited the Zaozyorsk military garrison, the storage facility in the Andreyev Inlet, the Nerpa ship-repairing plant in Snezhnogorsk, and the Atomflot state company.
The lawmakers "have studied regional affairs in detail in order to promote decisions of their governments to finance projects in Russia, including the Kola Peninsula," representative of the regional committee Vladimir Kozlovsky said.
Environmentalists assess the total cost of the infrastructure to handle spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, dispose of nuclear-powered submarines and rehabilitate contaminated territories of the Kola Peninsula and the Arkhangelsk region at about USD2bn.
"About 100 Russian submarines equipped with 300 nuclear reactors and 8,000 nuclear fuel elements are rusting in the fiords of the Kola Peninsula," Bellona said.