RUSSIA - May 28 - Northern Fleet Opens Secret Nuclear Waste Dump.

After 6 years of negotiations, a Norwegian delegation led by Deputy FM Espen Barth Eide is allowed into the top secret Andreeva Bay nuclear submarine base, where tons of highly radioactive waste are stored about 45 km from the Russian-Norwegian border. Eide says in an interview: "This really is an area we must do something about. Very large amounts of radioactive waste are stored here under very unfavourable conditions, and we have seen a facility marked by such decay that there is reason to take action as soon as possible". (This the first outside inspection of a Northern Fleet nuclear waste dump. Andreeva Bay is one of the world's most radioactively dangerous places. There are more than 100 nuclear submarines at the Northern Fleet bases on the Kola Peninsula. The waste at Andreeva includes spent nuclear fuel cores from atomic submarines. NATO-member Norway does not allow nuclear weapons or power on its own soil in peacetime and has been deeply concerned about the nuclear waste on the Kola). Eide says radiation detectors showed significantly elevated levels, without giving the exact readings. He adds: "This facility must be closed, and that is the Russians' goal. We are talking with the Russians on how we can break this huge task into many smaller parts". (Norway, the world's second-largest oil exporter, for years has held 20m kroner - $2.2m - ready to help clean up Andreeva Bay).