An increasing number of radiation-hazard facilities in the country need to be removed from operation (nuclear-powered naval and civilian ships, nuclear reactors at atomic power plants built in the 1960s, research and training reactors, irradiation equipment, monitoring devices that use radiation, and other types of radiation-hazard equipment).

The city of Moscow and the Central Region of the Russian Federation require significant attention. Many radioactive waste-producing facilities are concentrated there (representing 70 percent of all wastes from nonnuclear applications produced in Russia), and at the same time it is an area of maximum population density.

Land rehabilitation and reclamation is necessary in areas where uranium ore is mined and mine tailings are currently stored, and petroleum drilling enterprise wastes with high concentrations of natural radionuclides must be reprocessed.

Work is required to rehabilitate areas where the radiation situation is unfavorable, formed as a result of radiation accidents. Monitoring of the radiation and environmental status of cities and smaller towns is also necessary, as well as forecasting and prevention of radiation-related extreme events.

The current situation is characterized by the presence of the negative so-called nuclear heritage, including such problems as the accumulation of wastes in the Techa Cascade and Lake Karachai at the Mayak Production Association, and so forth.

Existing regulatory documents on radioactive waste management need improvement. There is a lack of experience in standard solutions and technologies with a high level of reliability and safety.

Work on a nationwide scale to create a unified waste isolation system began in the 1970s-1980s, but lags significantly behind world practice. Indeed, the greatest successes in radioactive waste management have been achieved in countries that have a unified waste management system. These states have specially created governmental organizations: ANDRA in France, ENRESA in Spain, NIREX in Great Britain, and so forth. They operate independently of the radioactive waste producers, are directly subordinate to the country’s government, and establish requirements for quality and minimization of radioactive wastes. National radioactive waste repositories with capacities up to hundreds of thousands of cubic meters operate under their auspices. However, foreign experience of countries with unified radioactive waste management systems (Great Britain, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and others) is being insufficiently studied and ineffectively used.

There is inadequate scientific, organizational, and technological coordination of efforts in radioactive waste management. Enterprises that produce