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Official reassures public over safety of future nuclear power plant

 

Lessons learned from past nuclear accidents will be taken into account in the construction of Belarus’ first-ever nuclear plant, Yakaw Kenihsberh, head of the Radiation Safety Laboratory at the National Research Center for Hygiene, said at a public hearing in Astravets, Hrodna region, on August 17.

The hearing, which focused on the Belarusian government’s report on the nuclear plant’s expected environmental impact, was attended by citizens of Lithuania, which has expressed concerns over the project.

Mr. Kenihsberh stressed that the designers of the plant had taken into account the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents, and considered a variety of accident scenarios as required by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). “Our country has taken obligations to observe all IAEA documents,” he said.

The official said that the facility would be located 25 kilometers off the Lithuanian border and 53 kilometers away from Vilnius. He noted that building nuclear power plants close to major cities was a widely accepted practice in Western Europe.

The annual dose of radiation from the nuclear power plant is not expected to surpass 0.1 millisievert, Mr. Kenihsberh said. “We are taking the route of the most stringent standards as far as it concerns the safety of our and neighboring countries,” he said. “The operation of nuclear power plants across the world shows that the actual dose of radiation for the public is 0.0002 millisievert. That will be the case in Belarus as well.”

The expert presented estimates suggesting that in the event of an accident the average radiation dose within 25 kilometers of the facility would be 1.62 millisievert, while the average dose of radiation for thyroid gland would be 25 millisieverts. “The risk of cancer appears when the dose exceeds 100 millisieverts, while signs of radiation sickness appear when the dose is 1000 millisieverts and more,” he said.
Mr. Kenihsberh criticized Lithuania for refusing to sign a bilateral agreement on nuclear accident reporting and the exchange of information and cooperation in the sphere of nuclear safety and radiation protection. “The draft agreement was sent to Lithuania more than two years ago. There has been no reply so far,” he said.

Some 400 people, including at least about 100 Lithuanian nationals, attended the hearing. Top government officials, including Vital Kulik, deputy minister of natural resources and environmental protection, and Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadzyuk were also present.

While opening the event, Mr. Kulik insisted that Belarus had observed all formalities required by the UN Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (the Espoo Convention). He referred to public hearings held in Vilnius and Minsk.

A number of Lithuanian NGOs boycotted the event, condemning it as a “mock” public hearing and calling on the Belarusian government to suspend the plant construction before assessing its possible environmental impact as required by the Espoo Convention.

Belarus notified Lithuania of its plans to build a nuclear power plant in the Astravets district, Hrodna region, in 2008.

Its two reactors are to have a generating capacity of up to 2,400 megawatts in total. The first unit is scheduled to be put into operation in 2018. AtomStroyExport, a subsidiary company of Russia’s Nuclear Energy State Corporation (Rosatom), is the prime contractor. // BelaPAN