26.12.2007 // Press service of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Energy

373 families from Muslumovo have already got 1,000,000 RUR compensation for their old houses

The Muslumovo Resettlement Fund reports that 373 families from Muslumovo have already got 1,000,000 RUR compensation for their old houses. A total of 610 families wish to leave Muslumovo.

According to the agreement for joint financing of the measures for ecological recovery of Techa River and resolution of social problems of the village of Muslumovo signed by the Federal Agency for Nuclear Energy and the Government of Chelyabinsk region in Nov 2006, the parties have allocated 600mln RUR each for the project. Rosatom covers the compensation expenses, while the Government of Chelyabinsk region organizes the construction of new houses and infrastructure for people wishing to move to the new residential area — Novomuslumovo. The resettlement is to be finished by the second half of 2009.

The project is based on the principle of voluntary choice – each resident of Muslumovo has the right to choose where to live: to get 1,000,000 RUR for his old house and to buy new one wherever he likes or to ask the Government of Chelyabinsk region to build a new house for him in Novomuslumovo and to pay for it through local construction organizations, says the secretary of the Public Council of Rosatom Igor Konyshev.

The Government of Chelyabinsk region reports that the construction of new houses was started in Sept 2007 and is to be finished by May 2008. Novomuslumovo will have all necessary infrastructure: gas, water, heating and sewerage system, as well as social facilities and schools.

As of today, 150 families have bought houses in Chelyabinsk, 15 — Kopeysk, 96 — Kunashakskoye, 7 — Krasnoarmeysky district. Some families have moved to the Republic of Bashkortostan and Kurgan region. 208 families are supposed to move to new houses in Novomuslumovo in 2008.

To remind, Techa River and the village of Muslumovo suffered from a Soviet defense project in the 1950s. As a result, theoretically, the residents of Muslumovo receive an effective radiation dose of 1 mSv and more a year, which is more than allowed in the Russian Federation.

The existing legislation says that the residents of Muslumovo are not subject to evacuation or compulsory resettlement.

However, in the last 20 years the federal and regional authorities have repeatedly tried to resettle the people.

Under the present project the authorities buy 741 households for 1,000,000 RUR each. The householders can use the money to buy houses wherever they like.