ST.PETERSBURG. Jan 21 (Interfax-Northwest) - A delegation of U.S. Congress and the Norwegian parliament is expected to arrive in the Murmansk region on Friday to learn more about the radiation situation on the Kola Peninsula.
The delegation's members will visit the Nerpa shipbuilding plant in Snezhnegorsk and a spent nuclear fuel storage facility in Saida Bay, Alexander Ruzankin, chief of the Murmansk region's committee for conversion and nuclear and radiation safety, told Interfax.
The official said the visiting delegation will hold a series of meetings with representatives of all concerned regional agencies, to discuss the possibility of resuming the Cooperative initiative].
On January 16, U.S. President George W. Bush authorized Congress to unfreeze the program's financing for 2003. About USD450m are expected to be channeled into the program this year.