BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

03/03/2010

Opponents of Belarus AE: environmental impact study on power plant conceals truth

Petras Vaida, BC, Vilnius,

On Tuesday, the Environment Ministry will present a report on the environmental impact assessment of a nuclear power plant (AE) that is planned to be built in Belarus. Meanwhile, Belarusian environmentalists who have arrived to Lithuania explain that this assessment does not reveal the truth about dangers posed by the nuclear power plant which would be erected next to Lithuania's border.

At a news conference held at the news agency ELTA on Tuesday, the opponents of the power plant in Belarus stated that the reactor AES-2006, which had been built in Russia and which would be equipped in the Belarusian AE, would be equipped for the first time, thus was no practical proof of its reliability and effectiveness of technical solutions, writes LETA.

The news conference was attended by Belarusian Professor Georgij Lepin, doctor of technical sciences, who took part in liquidating the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster and in the work of the state commission for the construction of the nuclear power plant in 1998, Russia's nuclear physics engineer Andrei Ozarovski, coordinator of the international group Ekozascita, Head of the Belarusian non-governmental organization Ekodom Irina Suchi.

Among the participants in the conference also were Saulius Piksrys, chairman of the community Atgaja, and MP Gintaras Songaila who expressed their opinions about the nuclear power plant to be built in Astraviec town of Belarus and their surprise at the fact that the Lithuanian Environment Ministry little spoke about the Belarusian AE.

"We find it very strange that such a serious project is being prepared which poses a serious threat to the people of both Belarus and Lithuania and there is no single word about it," Piksrys said.

Songaila explained that he was dissatisfied with the level of the environmental impact assessment of the Belarusian AE, which "matches the level of a Rosatom promotional material."

"With regard to the Chernobyl disaster, the figures that have been presented do not seem to be real. According to the practice, some settlements were moved 50-60 kilometres from Chernobyl. In case of an accident Vilnius would be in the area of evacuation. And there is practically no data on the impact of the power plant not in the case of an accident," the MP said.

According to the MP, such issues as the effect of the plant on the environment, the management of radioactive waste and others remain completely unclear. The official environmental impact study on the Belarusian nuclear power plant states that the Neris River will be the main water supply source of the plant. Critics of the power plant think that it will adversely affect the river flowing through Vilnius.

According to the critics, all technical and domestic waters of the plant and the town will flow to Neris. Moreover, the temperature of the river's water will increase, the water will be less clean and, consequently, all salmon fish living in it will gradually become extinct.

The environmentalists of the neighboring country also believe that the information of the study that Russia will take the spent nuclear fuel of the Belarusian AE is a lie. According to them, a plant which could recycle the nuclear waste of the reactor AES-2006 will not be erected quickly, thus the waste will be stored at an industrial site of the AE near the Lithuanian state border.

"Radioactive waste will be partially recycled within the plant area, for example, the liquid waste will be evaporated, and thus, it will lead to an increase in radiation and chemical pollution in the surrounding area. As shown by Chernobyl and the experience of the nuclear powers, radioactive content is widely distributed in nature through air and ground water. The contaminated area far exceeds the area of 30 or 50 kilometres, thus a part of pollutants will necessarily enter the territory of Lithuania," the opponents to the AE in Belarus explain.

The Belarusians who are dissatisfied with the possible construction of the nuclear power plant in their country hope that Lithuania could stop this project by opposing it at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Source:

http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/energy/?doc=24245


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