Part 1 of 2 Parts
     I have posted before about the construction of a nuclear power plant by Russia in Belarus. Belarus is launching operations at the new plant and experts are very concerned that the project falls far short of international safety standards. The reactor was constructed by the Russian company Rosatom. In spite of repeated emergency shutdowns and an unresolved problem of what to do with nuclear waste, the plant in Ostrovets has been licensed to begin operation.
      Construction of the plant began in 2011. It was due to begin operating last year. However, it failed to receive a license from the nuclear safety and regulation department of the Belarus government. In order to get around this problem, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko abolished the licensing requirement. This was apparently done to ensure that the plant’s opening ceremony coincided with Lukasheko’s sixth inauguration in the autumn of 2020. Equipment failure forced the work to stop on the next day. Experts had warned from the beginning of construction that the Ostrovets project failed to adhere to international safety standards.
     Aleksander Zdankov is the former auditor of the Accounts Chamber of Russia. He said, “In order to get the project off the ground, Rosatom started its construction without any architectural documentation.” Public hearings were held in Minsk last April which were supposed to inform citizens about the new plant but were actually more propaganda exercises.
     Andrei Ozharovsky is a renowned Russian nuclear physicist. He has been prevented from entering Belarus because of his public opposition to the Ostrovets plant. He has presented a list of detailed questions about the plant that were never answered. He said, “When asking the Belarusian nuclear regulatory authorities about emissions, I was told that there are none. It is a lie. Gaseous and radioactive emissions of this type of a reactor are being removed through ventilation pipes. There is a huge list of wastes: cesium, strontium, cobalt, even tritium.”
     Irina Sukhiy is the head of the Ecohouse NGO. She has raised concerns about the lack of emergency response preparations in the event of a major meltdown but received no reply. She said, “In Finland the emergency evacuation zone is around 1,000 kilometers. In Belarus it is only 15 km.” Belarus officials have also dismissed International Atomic Energy guidelines that nuclear power plants should not be built within one hundred kilometers of major population centers.
     The Ostrovets plant hosts a new type of reactor called the WER-1200. Officials argue that it will reduce the effects of a Fukushima-type accident through a special security system called melt traps. However, the melt traps cannot prevent the release of radioactive materials into the atmosphere. Ozharovsky said, “Any nuclear power plant can cause serious disasters. Why did the Fukushima accident happen? Their nuclear reactors were made in Japan and America – two of the most advanced countries in engineering. What can we expect from Rosatom, which is linked to Chernobyl?” The Belarusian authorities have also violated the U.N.’s Espoo and Archus conventions. These conventions require them to consult with their neighbors about the potential for cross-border environmental impact.
Please read Part 2 next