Enviros claimed a victory yesterday as the Russian parliament postponed a vote on allowing imports of spent nuclear fuel into the country for reprocessing. Backers of the measure, including the Russian government and U.S. business interests, say the country would gain a huge revenue source, some $20 billion over the next decade, if it opened itself up to the 20,000 tons of spent fuel around the world. But opponents say corrupt officials would pocket most of the revenue and the country would be inviting an environmental disaster if it accepted the waste. Environmental groups last year gathered 2.5 million signatures in support of a referendum opposing the measure, but the country’s Central Election Commission invalidated 600,000 signatures, denying the petition.
