Public ecological expertise of construction of the nuclear power plant started in Belarus
On 10 February the Ekadom NGO announced the beginning of the public expertise of the state project on construction of the nuclear power plant in Belarus.
The official statement of the organization runs that the public ecological expertise is held in line with the Belarusian legislation and its conclusions will be submitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, for consideration during the state ecological expertise.
The expert commissions, established by the Ekadom, includes Aleksey Yablokov, a well-known ecologist, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and other experts from Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine, and is headed by Ivan Nikitchanka, corresponding member of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences, Chairperson of the Center of Support to Chernobyl Initiatives NGO.
He says that public expertise is needed for giving an objective evaluation to the construction project and answering the question whether it is necessary at all. ‘Even now, having studied the information we have, I can say that I haven’t found substantial evidence of the necessity of constructing an NPP, especially in the way it is proposed. It is perceived that its construction is prepared in a great hurry,’ stated Mr. Nikitchanka.
Iryna Sukhii, Chairperson of the Council of the Ekadom, believes that public expertise is ‘especially necessary for such a dangerous object as an NPP. For our society, it is another instrument of participation in taking decisions within the legal boundaries, a means to defend its opinion in conformity with the Aarhus Convention,’ she pointed.
