Public BelNPP environment assessment impact survey presented in Vilnius

Belarusian ecologists presented the public BelNPP environment assessment impact survey during the roundtable which was jointly conducted by the Belarusian Ecological Initiative NGO and the Institute of Regional Development and Democracy (Lithuania) in Vilnius Yuri Solovyov, the head of the Belarusian Ecological Initiative, told BelTA.

The public of Lithuania got acquainted with the results of the monitoring carried out by volunteers of the environmental non-governmental organizations and experts of the national center of radiation control and monitoring at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Belarus in 2013. Previously, the study report was officially presented in Minsk. The main objective of the project is to create the information databank for regular independent monitoring of the impact of the Belarusian nuclear power plant on the environment at all stages of its life cycle: construction, operation and decommissioning.

The participants of the roundtable noted that the results of the survey show that the radiation background and the content of radionuclides in the environment were normal. During the survey the environmentalists did measurements of gamma radiation and collected samples of soil, water and air for caesium-137 and strontium-90 around the NPP construction site and nearby villages of Goza and Trokeniki. In addition, they did laboratory radionuclide analysis of the samples of surface water taken from the Vilia (Neris) River, the main water artery flowing near the nuclear plant construction site.

The roundtable was attended by representatives of the Lithuanian government, academia and environmental non-governmental organizations, mass media. “This is the first project to monitor the impact of the Belarusian nuclear power plant on the environment initiated by the Belarusian environmental NGOs, the results of which have been presented to the Lithuanian public," said Yuri Solovyov.

He said that next year they are going to involve Lithuanian laboratories and experts to conduct a radiation survey of the environment impact of the nuclear power plant: “The aim is to keep Belarusian and Lithuanian public informed about the safety measures applied during construction and operation of the Belarusian nuclear power plant and Belarus’ implementation of the Espoo Convention.”