People’s trust in nuclear power relies on open discussion

People’s trust in nuclear energy industry relies on open discussions of the relevant matters, BelTA learned from Balint Jozsef, Mayor of the Hungarian town of Kalocsa, President of the Association for Public Oversight, Awareness Raising, and Development (TEIT), in the nuclear energy information center in Minsk on 9 December.

“We would like to share our experience with Belarus. Communicating with the general public in the regions is very important. All the problems should be discussed openly because it is what trust relies on. Then people will have a positive recognition of the matters concerning the construction and operation of nuclear power plants,” stated the Kalocsa Mayor.

Balint Jozsef mentioned results of public opinion polls in Hungary where 75% of those polled now take a favorable view of nuclear energy industry and the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant.

Tatiana Shlyk, head of the nuclear energy information center in Minsk, was recently quoted as saying that the interest of Belarusians in nuclear energy industry matters is on the rise. Representatives of the Belarusian public association Ecological Initiative are convinced that people, who visit specialized information centers, get clear, precise and easily digestible information about the issues they are concerned about. “Thanks to that most of those, who visit information centers, get rid of unjustified phobias and existing stereotypes with regard to nuclear energy,” the ecologists are convinced.

The nuclear energy information center in Minsk started working in April 2015. It offers all kinds of information concerning nuclear energy industry such as the number of nuclear power plants in the world and the design and underlying operation principles of nuclear power plants. The information center focuses on providing information in new and unique ways.

The information center in Ostrovets was opened in 2009. It has a permanent exposition meant to highlight peaceful uses of nuclear energy. A renewed exposition was recently made available in the new community center for young Belarusians. Both information centers are open to any visitors. They also use all kinds of remote presentation tools starting with telephones and electronic mail and ending with Skype and social networking.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build an AES-2006 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The Belarusian nuclear power plant will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2,400MW (2x1,200MW). In line with the general contract for building the nuclear power plant the first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018, with the second one to go online in 2020.

The Paks nuclear power plant is Hungary’s only nuclear power plant in use. The power plant is located 100km away from Budapest and 5km away from the town of Paks. The facility was built using a Soviet design (four VVER-440 type reactors). The nuclear power plant generates over 50% of the electricity generated in Hungary. Plans have been made to build two more VVER-1200 reactors.