Openness of Belarusian nuclear station project praised

The openness of the Belarusian nuclear power plant’s construction process is extremely high and is on par with the practice of the world’s leading countries that operate and build nuclear power plants. The statement was made by Yuri Solovyev, head of the Belarusian public organization Ecological Initiative, at the roundtable session held on 13 December to discuss the official presentation of the monitoring’s results, BelTA has learned.

Yuri Solovyev said that the general public met no hindrances during the organization of and the actual public monitoring in Ostrovets and a number of villages around the nuclear power plant construction site. “We measured everything and took all the samples we wanted in all the places we wanted. Nobody interfered with us but only assisted us. I think it will continue to be so,” he said. He added that in order to visit the construction site they had had to notify the nuclear power plant construction directorate in advance but it is a normal practice for visiting strategic installations and the nuclear power plant is surely one of them.

The ecologist also said that attempts to criticize the technical level of the nuclear power plant construction project do not stand up to criticism. The Belarusian nuclear power plant relies on the AES-2006 design, which has been worked out by internationally recognized specialists. The Saint Petersburg-based project Atomenergoproject needs no introduction because it is highly reputed all over the world. He said he was also satisfied with the performance discipline during the construction process. “We are very glad that the Belarusian project is being implemented on schedule, with all the technical standards met. We would like the state of affairs to continue in the future. We will do our best to monitor the process later on,” said Yuri Solovyev.

Speaking about arguments against the nuclear power plant construction, including those voiced by other ecological organizations, he called upon colleagues to use weighty arguments, for instance, results of their own measurements and researches.

The project to conduct the public monitoring of the Belarusian nuclear power plant’s environmental impact has been carried out upon the initiative of a number of Belarusian ecological organizations with assistance of the general public, scientists, and specialists from Belarus, Lithuania, and Russia. The data collected as part of the project will be used for consequent monitoring. The national center for radiation control and environmental monitoring of the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry used the data collected in 2013 to compile a detailed report. The report will be made available via the websites of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry and the Nuclear Power Plant Construction Directorate soon. Results of the monitoring will also be presented to the general public of Lithuania at a roundtable session in Vilnius on 17 December. The Russian side in the monitoring project was represented by the interregional ecological organization Oka while the Lithuanian side was represented by the Institute for Regional Development and Democracy.