Lower house ratifies nuclear waste deal with Russia

April 18, BPN. The House of Representatives of the Belarusian National Assembly has adopted a bill ratifying a nuclear waste deal with Russia after the first reading.

The agreement pertains to transporting spent nuclear fuel to Russia, storing and reprocessing it there, and returning nuclear waste back to Belarus, the lower house’s press office reported.

The Belarusian Ministry of Energy and Russian state corporation Rosatom would handpick organizations authorized to hire contractors to transport and reprocess irradiated fuel assemblies.

Belarusian Energy Minister Viktar Karankievič and Rosatom CEO Aleksey Likhachev signed the intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in spent nuclear fuel management in Sochi on November 21.

The bill has yet to be approved by the Council of the Republic, the upper house, and signed into law by the head of state.