OSLO, Norway
(AP) _ Russia will allow Norway to inspect a Russian storage area
for spent nuclear fuel and radiocative waste, the Norwegian government
said Friday.
Norway considers
the site, located in the Russian arctic near the Norwegian border,
to be a threat. The area has been off limits because it"s
near a key submarine base on Russia"s Kola Peninsula, the
foreign ministry said Friday.
"This
is a breakthrough," deputy foreign minister Espen Eide was
quoted as telling the Norwegian news agency NTB by telephone from
Moscow, where he met this week with Russian foreign ministry officials.
"For
several years, we have been sitting on 20 million kroner ($2.1
million) that have been earmarked for cleaning up of Andreeva
Bay," he said. Andreeva Bay is considered one of the world"s
most radioactively dangerous places.
There are
more than 100 nuclear submarines at Russian"s Northern Fleet
bases on the Kola Peninsula, which borders Norway. Most are rusted
hulks, often with nuclear fuel on board, according to Bellona,
a Norwegian environmental group that specializes in the issue.
Many containers at Andreeva are leaking, Bellona claims.
Norway is
concerned because Andreeva is just 28 miles from its northeast
border. Eide said Norwegian assistance during the Kursk nuclear
submarine disaster, in which 118 Russian sailors died off the
Kola Peninsula last August 12, may have influenced the decision.
Norway twice
sent deep-sea divers to the wreck site to confirm that the crew
was dead and then to recover some bodies. Wealthy Norway, the
world"s second-largest oil exporter and a member of the NATO
military alliance, has been willing to held fund a cleanup.
"The
Russians admit improper storage, but they wanted the money to
clean up themselves," Eide was quoted as telling NTB. "We,
the whole time, have wanted access." He said one hurdle was
Russian reluctance to have NATO visitors see advanced nuclear
submarines docked nearby.
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