MOSCOW, October 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's emergency situations minister has proposed setting up a government commission to deal with the radioactive dumping in the Techa River in the Chelyabinsk region, southern Urals, to prevent the pollution of the Ob River and the Arctic Ocean.
"This problem has long been overdue," Sergei Shoigu told the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, Wednesday.
Shoigu said the river's open-air reservoir had accumulated more than 200,000 curies of radioactivity.
"I am not talking about evaporation; it is all in the sludge," he said. "I am talking about a possible dam breach and pollution of the entire river, and [radioactive] penetration into the Ob River and ultimately into the [Arctic] Ocean."
The problem requires an immediate and thorough solution, Shoigu said.
A criminal investigation was launched against the local Mayak chemical plant in April after breaches of environmental protection regulations were discovered during an inspection.
"Radiation background in the area of the Techa River has deteriorated in the past four years," Yury Zolotov, deputy prosecutor general in Russia's Urals Federal District, said. "Radiation levels are far above the norm."
Zolotov also said inspections had shown Mayak had released more then 60 million cu m of industrial waste into the river last year, causing environmental damage worth more than 30 million rubles ($1.05 million).
Russia's Criminal Code stipulates up to five years in prison for this kind of offense.
A major release of radioactive waste into the Techa occurred after an accident at Mayak in 1957.
