At the end of 2008 the government of the Republic of Belarus made a decision to build its own nuclear station. In consideration of the political regime of the country characterized by a 15-year rule of one and the same person, it’s not surprising that the public opinion on this issue had not been taken into account. The construction is to be undertaken by a Russian corporation “Atomstroyexport”. It is to be held in a seismically active zone, in a dozen kilometers away from Lake Naroch, the largest lake in Belarus. The cost of the project is estimated at $9 billion, but some scientists claim the total cost may increase.
Such a decision is extremely important for every Belarusian citizen. After the plans of the government became known, part of the citizens chose to resist the realization of the project. Numerous actions and awareness-raising campaigns were held, such as the annual Charnobylski
Shliah”, illegal actions at the place of the prospective construction, info-tour through Belarusian cities, brochures and leaflets distribution aiming at informing the population about the danger of nuclear power. The reaction of the authorities followed without delay: detentions of the activists, printed matters confiscations, obstacles to public film representations and other events, falsification of the public hearings, prohibition and disregard of the critisism of the environmental impact assessment, presented by environmentalists and scientists. Neighboring countries and foreign environmental organizations directed their censorious remarks to the station construction directorate and made their solidarity actions with Belarusian activists. Despite public protests, international criticism, the threat for Belarus to be excluded from Aarhus Convention and Espoo Convention as well as financial problems, the government never changed its decision.
Nuclear power engineering will not save humanity: it is fatally dangerous, expensive, connected with proliferation of nuclear weapons and hardly helps to avert climate changes. Moreover, the following facts are indicative of the inexpediency of the nuclear power plant construction (NPP) in Belarus:
- The place of the prospective construction is not only an environmentally pristine zone but one of the most favorable places for wind farms construction.
- A temporary nuclear waste repository is to be located on the nuclear power plant territory
- Belarus lacks finance for NPP construction and fuel for it. If the NPP is built on credit, taking into account the current external debt, not one generation will have to pay out the credit.
- Financing, construction and fuel delivery will be undertaken by a Russian party. Thus Russian gas dependency will be complemented by Russian nuclear fuel dependency, which contradicts Belarusian nuclear lobby statements.
We, “Antinuclear resistance”, an anarchist group, come out against nuclear energetic s in general and against NPP construction on the territory of Belarus in particular. Considering independent scientists and ecologists’ recommendations, we come out for renewable energy resources use, overall increase in energy efficiency of production and energy conservation.
On January 22nd, 2010 deputy minister of energy of Belarus announced that the agreement between Belarus and Russia concerning NPP construction can be signed in February. That’s why we call upon all concerned people to make solidarity actions with Belarusian antinuclear resistance on 19-21 February 2010. Decentralized actions of any form will help people to get to know about our problem and stop impudent authorities.