PR:Environmentalists call for a nuclear-free Baltic Sea

Media Release – for immediate publication Friday July 9, 2010

On Thursday at 13.00 press conference of the Baltic Sea Information tour took place under a motto "Stop nuclear power! "

Environmentalists call for a nuclear-free Baltic Sea
St. Petersburg Activists from Finland, Germany, Belarus and Russia told St Petersburg journalists why the tour passes through the northern capital of Russia, what kind of risks to human health and the environment are posed by the existing Leningrad nuclear power plant, operating four Chernobyl type reactors, and by the new LNPP-2, which is based on the pilot project NPP-2006, which was assessed by experts from Belarus, Lithuania and Austria as dangerous.

"Our group is waging a campaign against the import of toxic and radioactive uranium tails from Western Europe to Russia – the campaign is successful: according to some information, the shipment in late July from France will be the last. Also, we struggle against the ongoing construction of a new nuclear power plant near St. Petersburg, we do not want profits of the Rosatom corporation to be paid by health of ordinary people - and therefore we joined infotour", said co-chair of the St.Petersburg based ECOperestroika environmental group Rashid Alimov. ECOperestroika is the organizer of the St. Petersburg stop of the infotour.

Falk Beyer, expert on nuclear waste from Germany, one organizer of the Baltic Sea infotour said: "We are an international infotour against nuclear facilities in the Baltic Sea, the most radioactively contaminated sea in the world. Our programme includes not only communication with the press and information events, such as we have held in St. Petersburg yesterday, but also direct action, such as blockade of the nuclear power plant Olkiluoto (Finland) and mobilization for the blockade of transport of nuclear waste to Gorleben this year, where more than 10,000 participants are expected."

Tatiana Novikova, executive secretary of the Public Environmental Expertise of the project of Belarusian nuclear power plant says: "I, on behalf of many people in Belarus, ask the Russians not to finance and not to implement in Belarus, strongly affected by Chernobyl, so dangerous a project as AES-2006."

Belarus plans to build a nuclear power plant of the same project as the Leningrad NPP-2 being built at Sosnovy Bor near St. Petersburg. "A public environmental expertise came to conclusions that were later confirmed by experts from the Institute of Physics, Lithuania and Institute of Ecology, Austria. These conclusions are about the high risk of the project, that it has been tested nowhere and not only the project itself, but all its components, are absolutely new developments. In the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Belarusian NPP-2006 severe accidents and their consequences are not considered, whereas the statements in the EIA about high security of the project are not supported properly", adds Novikova.

Andrew Ozharovsky, an expert on nuclear energy, a physicist (Moscow, Russia) gave a detailed commentary related to the experimental and risky project NPP-2006. In particular he said: "Waste from these reactors is not reprocessed, it will be stored for an indefinite period at the storages adjacent to the NPP. Developers of the NPP-2006 project deliberately understate the radius of the potential impact of the NPP, which, according to the Austrian Institute of Ecology can reach more than 1,000 km."

The Austrian Institute of Ecology made this assessment under an order by Austrian authorities, for a transboundary EIA of the project of Belarus NPP.

The physicist and president of the organization Green World Oleg Bodrov said that "water ecosystems of the Baltic are very vulnerable, and water exchange with the open ocean is very small", therefore he called for "an international conference of the Baltic and the Barents region countries to develop a strategy for safety maintenance and its relations to risks posed by nuclear power plants, to exports and imports of nuclear electricity, as well as shipments of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel."

Details
The anti-nuclear Baltic Sea Info Tour brings together organizations from different countries, opposing to the construction of new nuclear power plants and requiring a nuclear-free status for the Baltic Sea. Currently, two nuclear power plants are being built near the Baltic Sea coast: in Finland (Olkiluoto-3) and in Russia (Leningrad NPP-2 near St. Petersburg). We oppose to construction of new nuclear power plants - such irresponsible plans are being discussed now in Finland, Russia, Belarus, Lithuania. In Sweden, where new nuclear power plants were formerly banned as a result of public protests, attempts are being made to build nuclear waste dumpsites in dangerous proximity to our joint Baltic Sea. In Germany a ban of new nuclear power plants is still effective, although the government discusses the extension of the reactors lifetimes. They have a high level radioactive waste repository in Lubmin near Greifswald close to the Baltic Sea and transports of the dangerous material are announced for the next months to this facility. Therefore, our Infotour makes stops in all these countries mentioned.

Schedule of the Baltic Sea Info Tour 2010 (short version)

 * Åland (FIN): June 22-24
 * Loviisa/Isnäs (FIN): June 26-28
 * Helsinki (FIN): June 30 - July 2
 * St. Petersberg (RUS) and Riga (LV): July 6-8
 * Riga (LV): July 11-13
 * Belarus and Vilnius (LT): July 15-17
 * Jezioro Żarnowieckie (PL): July 21-23
 * Greifswald (D): July 26-28
 * Copenhagen (DK): July 30 - August 1
 * Malmö (SE): August 3-5
 * Stockholm (SE): August 9-11
 * Olkiluoto/Rauma (FIN): August 14-16
 * Oulu (FIN): August 18-20

Additional information can be found at:
 * http://baltic-tour.nuclear-heritage.net
 * http://ecoperestroika.ru

The dangers associated with the existing nuclear industry and their future plans transcend national borders. Together, our international co-operation is vital in creating a healthy, safe nuclear free future.

Dear editor! You are warmly invited to publish about the info-tour. To visit the tour activities you should visit the website http://baltic-tour.nuclear-heritage.net and find out the places next to you. If you have questions you are welcome to contact us at [mailto:mediaATnuclear-heritage.net media AT nuclear-heritage.net] or at +358 41 7243254.

-- Nuclear Heritage Network WebSite: http://nuclear-heritage.net E-Mail: [mailto:contactATnuclear-heritage.net contact AT nuclear-heritage.net]

This media release is provided by the "Nuclear Heritage Network". It is an international network of anti-nuclear activists. This informal alliance supports the worldwide anti-nuclear work. The Nuclear Heritage Network is no label, has no standard opinion and no representatives. All activists of the network speak for themselves or for the groups they represent.