The ‘Angarsk electrolysis chemical complex’ (AECC), an enterprise of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy is developing an international uranium enrichment centre in the town of Angarsk, near Lake Baikal. The creation of this enrichment centre means that other countries will be able to send their radio-active waste (depleted uranium hexafluoride) to Angarsk to be processed. Only 10% of this imported waste will be taken back to the countries of production and the remaining waste will remain here for an unlimited time. We consider this to be illegal importation of radioactive waste.

Some uranium hexafluoride has already been brought to the AECC and is being kept in storage casks in the open air on the industrial complex. This material is highly radioactive. According to some estimations, the depressurization of just one container could lead to deadly toxins being released into an area 32 km in circumference. That means right into the centre of our region and in the town of Angarsk itself. This area is in the same atmospheric zone as lake Baikal and so if an accident were to take place, the consequential environmental damage would be irreversible.

It is clear that this international enrichment centre has been set up to make money through large-scale storage of other countries' radioactive waste. This is inconsistent with the plans to unite the towns of Irkutsk, Angarsk and Shelekhov and contradicts plans to increase tourism to Lake Baikal.

Most of all, however, this is a direct threat on the lives of the people living here. We have to learn from the mistakes made in Chernobyl and in Chelyabinsk that technology which seems reliable can result in disastrous consequences for generations of people.

More than 20 thousand residents of Irkutsk have already voiced their objections to the creation of the International Uranium Enrichment Centre in Angarsk.

We call on more people, not just from the Irkutsk region, to join the campaign ‘NO Chernobyls at Baikal!’

There is still a chance to stop the development of events!

Write or send telegrams to:

Prsident Medvedev; Ilinka Street number 23, 103132, Moscow, Russia
www.president.kremlin.ru president@kremlin.ru
Telephone: (495) 925-3581
(495) 206-8900

Minister of Industry and Energy, Mr. Sergey Kirienko
Ministry of Industry and Energy
7 Kitaigorodsky Proezd, Moscow 109074
Tel. +7 (495) 710 52 00; 206 80 80
http://www.minprom.gov.ru

The Governor of Irkutsk Region, Mr Alexander Tishanin,
1A Lenin St, Irkutsk, 664027, Russia
You can send a letter from the Governor’s web site:
http://tishanin.govirk.ru/qa/request