Rogozin urges improvements in Arctic system for handling dangerous substances
© Alexander Galperin

Rogozin urges improvements in Arctic system for handling dangerous substances

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin urged improvements in the Arctic region's system for handling dangerous waste at a meeting of the State Commission for Arctic Development during the VII International Forum, Arctic: Today and the Future.

"I consider it necessary to analyze the data of territorial maps and draft organizational and financial-economic mechanisms for regulating and monitoring the transfer of waste in the first and second hazard classes. These mechanisms would help create a cost-effective and environmentally safe system for handling this waste in the Russian Arctic," he said.

This waste poses the greatest hazard in areas with predominantly low and super-low temperatures because longtime permafrost layers have extremely low self-cleansing potential. "Most of the methods and technologies being used to decontaminate, transfer and eliminate toxic waste and reclaim land and water bodies that were contaminated by dangerous substances in areas with a mild climate are ineffective here," Rogozin said.

According to Rogozin, there is no state control system for monitoring the elimination of waste under the production-relocation-decontamination-siting-elimination concept. In addition, different classifications of waste are handled under the same standards.

"Manufacturers of highly hazardous waste classes have no incentive to safely recycle them because of inadequate legal liability and openly weak regulations. There are almost no industrial facilities for safely decontaminating and eliminating high hazard waste," Rogozin noted.

The Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency is the general media partner of the VII International Forum, Arctic: Today and the Future. The media group has the highest quotation index among Russian media outlets and manufactures the bulk of media products nationwide for international audiences, the business community, state agencies and the widest possible range of users. Rossiya Segodnya's media resources include RIA Novosti, R-Sport, RIA Real Estate, RIA Rating, Prime Business News Agency and the INOSMI (Foreign Media Outlets).