Second Russian nuclear facility threatened by fires

Russian soldiers drive an armoured vehicle the burnt out forest near Voronezh on August 4, 2010. Explosive and radioactive materials have been removed from Russia's top secret nuclear research facility due to wildfires raging in the region, the Russian nuclear agency chief said. Photo courtesy AFP.

France offers plane, staff to fight Russia fires
Paris (AFP) Aug 8, 2010 - France offered to send 120 firefighting personnel and a plane to drop water on the wildfires that have sparked a crisis in Russia, the French presidency said on Sunday. The offer to Russian authorities also included 37 other vehicles and pumps to help fight the blazes, it said in a statement. "France, while keeping the necessary (firefighting) capacities on its national territory, thus expresses its full solidarity with Russia and the Russian people in the terrible ordeal they are facing," it said.

The foreign ministry later added three French firefighting experts would leave for Russia late on Sunday, with 30,000 anti-smoke masks also to go on their flight. The wildfires have killed 52 people, destroyed villages and covered Moscow with a choking smog which has also delayed flights. Authorities said the blazes were still spreading in central Russia, with the country's worst heatwave in decades expected to continue.

by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) Aug 8, 2010
Russia's emergency response minister ordered firefighters to redouble their efforts Sunday to put out a wildfire threatening one of the country's nuclear research facilities in the Urals.

"As for Snezhinsk, I recommend you work through the night," Sergei Shoigu said during a meeting with officials from regions hit by the blazes.

Snezhinsk, located some 1,500 kilometres (925 miles) east of Moscow, is home to one of Russia's centres for its nuclear research programme.

"You have only seven hectares left, that's not a big area and I hope you can put out that fire," said the minister.

Russia's other major nuclear centre at Sarov in the Nizhny Novgorod region has also been threatened by blazes, but Shoigu said Sunday at the meeting that all of the wildfires around the city had been put out.

After stating several times that the wildfires pose no threat to the nuclear facilities, Russian authorities announced they had removed all radioactive and explosive materials from the site.

The fires which have been blazing as western Russia suffers through a scorching heatwave have killed 52 people.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Forest and Wild Fires - News, Science and Technology

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS
Solar Energy Solutions
Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ...

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

Russia: Fears of nuke smog as fires rage
Moscow (UPI) Aug 6, 2010
Moscow was shrouded in smoke Friday as authorities warned of a possible radioactive cloud that could form if the wildfires raging in Russia spread to an area contaminated by the Chernobyl accident. The images emerging from Moscow Friday look like they were taken from a doomsday movie: A giant smoke cloud has made the landmarks including the Kremlin disappear, with the few commuters who ... read more

Alarm over Russia plan to destroy crop collection

Putin sows controversy with Russia grain ban

Russia bans grain exports due to drought

Rebuilding Flood Plains, Agriculture, Economy

Protein From Poplar Trees Can Be Used To Greatly Increase Computer Capacity

Polymer Synthesis Could Aid Future Electronics

Acer, Asus and Lenovo lead pack as PC sales surge

Intel posts 'best quarter' ever

Hong Kong's Cathay expands as demand returns

Spanish military may replace absent air traffic controllers

China jumbo jet maker picks GE, Eaton as suppliers

Swiss solar plane makes history with round-the-clock flight

China car demand eases but long term prospects still strong

Sales of Toyota hybrids top one million vehicles in Japan

Head of Hong Kong's Octopus resigns after personal data sale

China to invest 15 billion dollars in green cars

Business outsourcing reshaping Philippine society

Venezuela again stopped at Mercosur's door

China on WTO pact offer: Don't be 'too demanding'

Rio Tinto says first-half earnings jump 260 percent

Indonesia 'woefully inadequate' on illegal loggers: probe

Logging a threat to Europe's last primeval forest: activists

Reforestation Projects Capture More Carbon Than Industrial Plantations

Russian highway protestors target French company

TerraSAR-X Image Of The Month: Tracking The Catastrophic Oil Spill

NASA Images Show Continuing Mexico Quake Deformation

Fires And Smoke In Russia

GOES-13 Satellite Sees Severe Storms Strike US East Coast

Graphene Exhibits Bizarre New Behavior Well Suited To Electronic Devices

German power plant testing CO2-scrubbing algae

Carbon trading used as money-laundering front: experts

Europe must up CO2 cuts to 30 percent: EU's big three

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement