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Ukraine's Greens criticize Belarusian nuclear project

The Party of Greens of Ukraine is protesting the construction of Belarus' nuclear power plant, describing the future station as an extremely hazardous facility.

"Belarus is one of the countries that have been hit worst by the Chernobyl accident," Party Deputy Chairman Pavlo Khazan said in an interview with BelaPAN. "We firmly believe that energy demand should be satisfied through wise energy consumption and energy efficiency efforts and energy sources should be diversified, while plans to increase the capacity of existing nuclear power plants or build new stations should be dropped."

"Belarus has a great potential of increasing the use of renewable energy sources by, for instance, building wind power plants," Mr. Khazan said. "I think that the matter will be raised at the next session of the European Green Party, and I hope that we will combine our efforts and stop the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant.”

The Ukrainian party demands a large-scale public hearing on the Belarusian nuclear project in its country.

Last year the Belarusian authorities sent a report on the potential environmental impact of the future plant to neighboring states – Austria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine.

Belarus is required to discuss the environmental effects of the nuclear project with its neighbors under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)’s 1991 Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context.

Earlier this week, the Belarusian energy ministry held a public hearing on the project in Vilnius. A similar event is scheduled to take place in Ukraine later this month.

Belarus' special government commission decided in December 2008 that the plant should be built in the area of the village of Mikhalishki some 12 miles from Astravets, a city of 9,000 residents in the Hrodna region, and 10 miles from the Lithuanian border. The commission chose that site over locations near the village of Kukshynava between Horki and Shklow, Mahilyow region, and near the village of Chyrvonaya Palyana near Bykhaw, Mahilyow region.

The 2,000-MW plant is expected to account for 27 to 30 percent of the total domestic electricity output. One of the two 1000-MW reactors is to be put into operation in 2016 and the other in 2018.