Nuclear power opponents urge Belarusian authorities to halt Astravets NPP construction

The activists recalled the eighth anniversary of the accident at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant. According to environmental activists, among the main alternatives to nuclear power are clean energy sources, which are at the basis of the energy evolution all around the world.

Civic activists believe that Belarusian energy security, which means its economic and political independence, lies not with nuclear energy but with alternative energy sources.

Being a guarantor of energy security in the eyes of the state, the nuclear power plant is an economically unprofitable and environmentally dangerous technology from the point of view of international energy processes’ management. Such statements were heard from the experts in the discussion of new energy routes in the world.

“The station is being built, because the decision to construct it was made a long time ago, and experts, who advised to build it, in my opinion, were not guided by modern figures. And secondly, it was probably a decision lobbied by Rosatom,” says Pavel Harbunou, a member of the Belarusian Green Party.

As a result, environmentalists say, to stop the nuclear power plant construction now is more economically feasible than to start its operations. And there are such examples in the world. Among the alternatives to nuclear power are renewable energy sources like solar, wind or water. These sources are now used by the civilized world.

Energy security of any country is also one of the guarantees of its independence. Therefore, the development of the entire energy sector – including the cheap and effective natural sources – should be the concern of the state level, say the activists of the public sector.

“Belarus is a European country. And in terms of solar power, we are at the same level as Germany. It is also true regarding the wind — they are the same in Belarus and in Germany. Therefore, if we want to go in this direction, nothing will be stand in our way,” says a member of the Belarusian Green Party Zmitser Kuchuk.

Thus, Belarus has all the possibilities to walk on the path of green energy. It only remains to get the political will to do so.

Halina Abakunchyk, belsat.eu