Atomic energy
Polska, 18 February 2010

Eastern Europe, a nuclear dustbin?

Published on 18 February 2010 at 12:33
Polska, 18 February 2010

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Highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants across the EU may finally be stored in Central or Eastern Europe, headlines Warsaw daily Polska. This option is outlined in a plan being drawn up by the European Repository Development Organisation (ERDO). A single underground repository for EU nuclear waste could bring savings of between 15 and 25 billion euro. The real issue, however, is the location of such a facility which, according to EU experts, would have to be able to store 25.6 tons of nuclear waste by 2040 on a subsidy of around €5m per year. Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Lithuania, as well as Poland, Italy and Holland are currently negociating transit routes and the hosting of the eventual site. For Jerzy Niewodniczański, former chairman of Poland’s Atomic Energy Agency, “The best location would be one that currently has a high unemployment rate, because building such a facility would create hundreds of new jobs."

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