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Serbia ships 2.5 tons of nuclear waste to Russia

23 December 2010 18:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Serbia has successfully transferred 2.5 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste to Russia, a statement by the press service of the Serbian government said on Thursday, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.
More than 8,000 spent fuel elements, including 13 kilograms of highly enriched uranium from a Soviet-built reactor outside Belgrade, were delivered to the Mayak nuclear facility located in Chelyabinsk region on Wednesday, the statement said.
The move was taken as a part of special program under which Russia disposes of spent fuel from Russian-built reactors located in other countries.
"Serbia along with its international partners managed to implement this sensitive work [the transportation] without problems," Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic said in the statement. The shipping of the waste took eight years to set up and cost $55 million, he added.
Russia will use the money to rehabilitate the polluted environment of the industrial Chelyabinsk region.