At a meeting held on March 14, the regional committee of the Shipbuilders Labour Union in Archangelsk county decided to join in on the Russia-wide strike scheduled for March 27. The Severodvinsk shipyard workers will demand the retirement of the Russian Government and the President. Further demands comprise a stabilisation of shipyard funding in Severodvinsk. At present the city of Severodvinsk and the plants located there need some 18 million US dollars a month.
At the same time, the governor of Archangelsk county, Anatoliy Efremov, commenting on the situation in Severodvinsk, said that the State currently owes Severodvinsk shipyards about 203 million US dollars. He did not expect delivery of the money.
-- The Ministry of Finance does not have this money, and it won't get it anytime soon, said mr. Efremov.
Meanwhile, a group consisting of the Environmental Committee of Severodvinsk, the Military Nuclear Safety Inspection, representatives of Severodvinsk yards and other involved parties, faced a problem at a meeting discussing shipments of used fuel for reprocessing: The repair works on the two radiological service boats PM-63 and PM-124 are proceeding at a very slow pace. Similarly, the condition of the defuelling facilities are unsatisfactory, greatly increasing the probability of accidents during operation. The main reason why necessary repair works are not carried out, is the lack of funding.
Alexey Klimov, Severodvinsk, 1997-03-18
"Severny Rabochiy", 1997-03-18/14/12 and 02-27