Tentative plans to set up radioactive waste management enterprises in Chernobyl-affected areas

MINSK, 26 April (BelTA) – Enterprises to manage radioactive waste may be established in the areas affected by the Chernobyl catastrophe. Maria Germenchuk, Deputy Director for Science of the International Sakharov Environmental Institute of Belarusian State University, mentioned it in the latest episode of BelTA's YouTube project After the Fact: Lukashenko's Decisions.

In April Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko signed a decree on organizing a system for radioactive waste management. According to the press service of the head of state, the document is aimed at enabling the operation of a system for long-term storage and burial of such waste.

According to Maria Germenchuk, it is possible that enterprises specializing in collection, processing, and burial of waste may be set up in the areas polluted with radiation as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. “It doesn't matter whether the environment is polluted or not. Enterprises for making containers for storage and processing of waste may be established there,” the ecologist explained.

The possibility is being contemplated for now but the relevant decisions may well be made. The organization of manufacturing enterprises in the affected areas will allow creating new jobs in these populated localities. It will have a positive effect on the social and economic development of the regions.

“I am not talking about radioecological consequences anymore. We already have to understand what benefits we can extract from what we have. I mean we live in a situation of existing irradiation. We cannot run from it and we have to live on,” Maria Germenchuk stressed.