Bellona nuclear digest. August 2024
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
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Publish date: June 4, 2006
News
Representatives of 31 non-governmental organizations from 4 countries convened in St. Petersburg on June 1-2 for the conference on the ‘Impact of the Public and Whistleblowers on Energy and Nuclear Policy’. NGOs adopted a joint resolution on the issues to be addressed at the G8 summit.
Today at the press-conference Alexander Nikitin, Chairman of the Environmental Rights Center ‘Bellona’, noted that the G8 plans to renew the construction of nuclear power plants worldwide are regarded as irresponsible by environmentalists. The latter demand that the G8 governments stop subsidizing nuclear power plants and redirect those resources to support the renewable energy sources (wind energy, geothermal energy, sun energy, micro-hydroelectric power plants, etc.).
‘The so-called nuclear renaissance is very dangerous for the whole world’, said Susan Gordon of the US-based Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. ‘Nuclear power plants radioactive waste will remain dangerous for thousands of years. We cannot speed up the nuclear disintegration process for these materials, so nuclear energy is too dangerous’.
‘We think that whenever we speak about energy safety, we should take into consideration the environmental side of this safety’, said Jay Goghlan (Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, USA).
NGOs representatives also spoke about the importance of supporting ‘truth-tellers’, or ‘whistleblowers’, workers of dangerous facilities who publicly speak about the drawbacks in the work of such facilities. Government Accountability Project, an NGO working on whistleblower protection (USA), initiated an international convention on whistleblower protection.
‘Both in Chernobyl and before the Challenger accident there were people who spoke about the work failures. The problem is that no one would listen to them’, said Jay Goghlan (Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, USA).
Sergey Paschenko, Director of Siberian Scientists for Global Responsibility Organization (Novosibirsk) told us about the samples he had taken two days ago, right after the conference, in the village of Lebyazhye (Leningrad region), 20 km away from Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant. In samples taken at the old pipeline abandoned and buried 20 years ago, he managed to register the level of radiation 20 times higher than the normal beta-radiation level, the former supposedly caused by strontium.
‘More detailed research results will be available in a week. We should look for the source of contamination. Local authorities consider the source to be the heptyl mines where, apart from heptyl, radioactive waste was illegally disposed‘, he said.
Statement of the International Conference on the Impact of the Public and Whistleblowers on Energy and Nuclear Policy
June 1-2, 2006
Hotel Znamenka
We, the participants of the international conference on the “Impact of the Public and Whistleblowers on Energy and Nuclear Policy” representing 31 non-governmental organizations from 26 towns and cities and 4 countries, have convened on June 1-2, 2006 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
As scientists, nuclear industry workers, and environmental activists we support people who have unique information about the safety and health issues as potential messengers for protecting human health and the environment. These messengers should be protected and celebrated, not prosecuted or persecuted.
World leaders will come to St. Petersburg to discuss energy problems and solutions, and are actively considering the renaissance of nuclear power. Any consideration of nuclear power cannot take place without recognizing the victims and lessons of Chernobyl and other nuclear disasters and the legacy of nuclear weapons production. The global nuclear energy partnership proposal increases proliferation, endangers the public, and undermines democratic principles.
We Demand:
In addition, we support the right to speak the truth and urge the following:
There should be legal rights for workers to redress their grievances if they suffer retaliation
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
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