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Misleading report on Belarus nuclear power plant

Environmental activist slams report on Belarusian nuclear power plant’s impact as sloppy, misleading
Belarus News 21 Sept 09 The Belarusian government’s report on the possible environmental impact of its future nuclear power plant does not address key issues, Russian environmental activist Andrei Ozharovsky said in an interview with BelaPAN.

“It is a sloppy, incomplete and misleading report,” Mr. Ozharovsky said. “The document gives the impression that it is not the result of an unbiased assessment but just the parroting of some campaign slogans provided to the Belarusian authors by Russia`s Rosatom nuclear energy corporation.”

“The 130-page report does not assess the impact of nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel management,” he said. “Neither does it assess the plant’s impact following its closure.”

The report was under discussion at a meeting held at the Belarusian environmental protection ministry on Friday. Mr. Ozharovsky, coordinator of the Moscow-based Ecozashchita (Eco Protection) group, took part in the discussion of the ministry’s Public Coordination Environmental Council.

“It is very difficult and expensive to close nuclear power plants,” the activist said. “There will be a big amount of waste with which this report fails to deal. The waste will not dissolve on its own in 50 or 60 years. And the most ridiculous thing is that the report authors do not even recognize the problem. They say: ‘Yes, it is expensive; perhaps, a burial site will be built right at the Astravets area.’ But the document says nothing about this.”

Mr. Ozharovsky slammed the report as misleading, noting that it reads that spent nuclear fuel will be transported to Russia.  “As a representative of Russia, I can say that Article 48 of our Environmental Protection Law prohibits the non-returnable deliveries of spent nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste,” he said. “It means that Russia most likely will be sending back to Belarus waste produced by its nuclear power plant. Hence, a big burial site will appear at Belarusian land, as around 60 tons of spent nuclear fuel will be produced annually.”

The report also does not discriminate between accidents within and beyond the design basis, the activist said, warning that any reactor can blow up and an accident’s impact should be measured beforehand.

Environmental activist slams report on Belarusian nuclear power plant’s impact as sloppy, misleading | BELARUS NEWS

September 21, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, Belarus, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes