PARIS (Reuters) - Waste from French power stations was being deposited in the open air in Russia, French newspaper Liberation said on Monday.
The paper said 13 percent of French radioactive waste produced by power group EDF (EDF.PA)could be found in the open air in a town in Siberia to which access is forbidden. The paper said it based its information on an investigation due to be broadcast on TV channel Arte on Tuesday.
An EDF spokeswoman declined to confirm the 13 percent figure, or that waste was stored in the open air, but confirmed EDF sends nuclear waste to Russia.
"We send waste to Russia for treatment, and they send 10 to 20 percent of it back to us to be used in French power plants," she said.
EDF is the world's biggest producer of nuclear power, operating 58 reactors in 19 nuclear plants in France. The French state owns an 84.66 percent stake in the company.
(Reporting by Julien Ponthus; Writing by Helen Massy-Beresford; Editing by David Holmes)
