News
Publish date: August 18, 2009
News
The two countries have also signed an action plan for 2009.
Sceptical observers have pointed out that Russia has a number of agreements and action plans with various corporations and countries that are primarily an effort to boost the ailing nuclear industry’s prestige without having to prop up that prestige with actual funding and investment.
A feasibility study of prospective investments in the Belarusian nuclear plant will be discussed soon at Atomenergoproyekt, the general designer of the project, Nuclear Engineering reported.
It is planned to construct two power units, each with the capacity of 1,200 megawatts, in the Grodno region, said the magazine.
Russia and Belarus are still required to coordinate on financial terms of the project. Interfax reported. In June 2009, Belarus asked Russia to consider a possible loan of $9 billion for the nuclear power project and related infrastructure. No decision has yet been made.
In Bellona’s opinion, one may not be forthcoming at all. Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom looks far better on paper that it does at the bank, and it has entered into a number of agreements this year and last that show no signs of moving forward.
Recent attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war," the UN atomic agency's director general said last week.
After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.
In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of proven gas reserves in Russia – to raise its share in the international gas trade.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.