Results of public monitoring of Belarusian nuclear station’s environmental impact in Lithuanian

Results of the public survey meant to assess the environmental impact of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, which is under construction, will be translated into Lithuanian. The information was released by Yuri Solovyev, head of the Belarusian public association Ecological Initiative, at the online briefing hosted by the BelTA press center on 20 December.

Asked about the accessibility of public monitoring results for citizens from various countries, Yuri Solovyev reminded that the results were presented in Vilnius on 17 December. Information about the results was delivered to the general public via Lithuania’s top mass media. “We also requested Lithuanian partners to publish the report on their website,” noted the ecologist. “The possibility of translating the document into Lithuanian is being decided in order to make it accessible by as many Lithuanians as possible”.

The data was also forwarded to the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry and the Belarusian Energy Ministry for the sake of publishing it on the websites of the two ministries and the website of the Belarusian nuclear power plant.

Asked about the possibility of public monitoring at all stages of the Belarusian nuclear power plant construction, the expert remarked that it will depend on the activeness of public organizations. He said: “I believe that it will be possible if our public organizations are more active in this regard. Therefore, in order to assess the ecological situation at all stages in addition to environmental safety, in order to assess the quality of the construction, knowledgeable specialists are needed”.

For now Yuri Solovyev believes that public organizations are insufficiently active. “Certainly, we would like them to be more involved in the process. We are working on it. We may step up monitoring efforts,” he added.

In 2013 the first stage of the project to conduct the public monitoring of the Belarusian nuclear power plant’s environmental impact was carried out. As part of the project representatives of non-governmental ecological organizations of Belarus, Russia, and Lithuania in association with representatives of the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry and the scientific community took samples of air, water, and soil to assess radiation in Ostrovets, nearby villages, and at the construction site of the nuclear power plant. The results of the survey are now the reference point that will be used later to monitor the operational nuclear power plant’s environmental impact. The survey report was presented in Minsk and Vilnius. The organizers plan to carry out similar surveys next year in the parts of Lithuania, which are adjacent to the construction site.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant will boast two power-generating units with the total capacity of up to 2,400MW (1,200MW each). The Russian design AES-2006 has been chosen to build the power plant. The design is fully compliant with international standards and IAEA recommendations. The Russian public joint-stock company OAO NIAEP – ZAO Atomstroyexport is the general designer and the general contractor for building the power plant.