Austria urges stop nuclear plant construction in Belarus

The project of a nuclear power plant in Astravets is not ready for implementation, experts concluded at the hearing in Vienna.

Euroradio has learnt this from Russian scientist Andrei Ozharovsky, who took part in the hearing. He quoted Gerhard Loidl, a representative of Upper Austria.

“The project is not ready. We ask to suspend its implementation. The environmental impact assessment hasn’t give answers to all questions. It is not proved that the offered project meets the requirement of third generation nuclear plants. Nuclear power plant's effect on the environment is not fully analyzed. There is no clarity regarding the use of wastes and storage of spent nuclear fuel. It is not clear what happens if a passenger aircraft falls down on reactor's protective building. The possibilities to use renewable energy are not estimated correctly, there is no clarity with the most severe accident scenario.”

The hearing in Vienne on May 11 lasted for five hours. The hearing was attended by 40 people, including 8 official representatives of Belarus from the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Protection, other governmental bodies.

“The distance between Vienna and Astravets is approximately 1000 kilometers. Under Austria laws, the country thinks it can suffer from the Belarusian NPP. The vast majority of Austrian participants were sure the situation would resemble one after the Chernobyl disaster in case of emergency at the NPP in Astravets. About 2–3% of Chernobyl radionuclides fell out in Austria,” Andrei Ozharovsjy said.

Official representatives of Belarus took the floor at the end of the hearing and said a final decision regarding the NPP construction would be made by the country. They also noted that international norms provide a 3-km radius protective action zone, so the plant doesn’t bring any threats to Austria.

“In general, we are not satisfied with the result. Because the result is as follows: Belarus will build the NPP because it considers it safe and necessary. Opinions from outside are welcomed but not taken into account,” Clemens Konrad, an expert from Austrian ecological organization Oekobuero, told Euroradio.

According to him, the conflict between those supporting and opposing the NPP construction remains, the hearing failed to settle it. Clemens Konrad asked the Belarusian representatives what will happen if the Aarhus Committee considers a complaint on the NPP construction and asks Belarus to repeat certain procedures. Konrad didn’t receive a clear answer. He was told the result of the complaint consideration would be only positive, a negative scenario wasn’t possible.

“I have an impression that the Belarusian specialists tried to give clear answers, but sometimes their attempts were unsuccessful as the floor was given to incompetent people. I think they did they best giving answers. I don’t know how the situation develops, it’s a political issue,” Clemens Konrad believes.

The official closed consultations were held ahead of the hearing in Vienna. After the consultation and public hearing, Austria is expected to formulate its official position and present it to Belarus.