ST. PETERSBURG, June 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russia could develop and implement long-term repositories for radioactive waste in the next 10 to 15 years, an official said Monday.
"Existing facilities can provide secure storage for up to 50 to 70 years, but then [radioactive] waste has to be reburied. There will be no such need with the new facilities," said Sergei Brykin, head of the Central Information and Analysis Center for Radioactive Waste Management.
Brykin said the new repositories would make it possible to store radioactive waste safely for several thousand years, and added that sites were being considered in Siberia and on the Kola Peninsula in Russia's Far North.
He said that, although the new storage facilities were extremely safe, they would be subject to stringent controls.
"'Dump-and-forget' will no longer be an operating principle," he said.
