BeleNE! environmental impact assessment not addressing concerns

They were supported in their request by the team of experts responsible for the EIA report, which in its expert reaction on the concerns of the defendants reacted with the suggestion to do a new Environmental Impact Assessment because concerns were not met.

In a seperate act, the Macedonian Environmental Ministry this morning officially confirmed to the environmental organisation Eco-Sense in Skopje, that it has requested last week the Macedonian Foreign Ministry to invoke the Espoo convention on transboundary Enviornmental Impact Assessment for the building of the Belene nuclear power station.

The Environmental Impact Assessment for the Belene nuclear power station was carried out in 2004 and the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment approved the final report in December of that year. A coalition of environmental organisations, concerned citizens and experts appealed this decision on the basis of the insufficient quality of the assessment and the report. Greenpeace, Ekoglasnost / Friends of the Eart Bulgaria and the critical nuclear power information service WISE/NIRS were part of this coalition.

In its first session earlier this year, the court excluded Greenpeace from standing without giving argumentation. It allowed, however, Greenpeace and WISE/NIRS consultant on nuclear energy issues Jan Haverkamp to stand on personal title as well as as representative of WISE/NIRS.

The evidence

In October first evidence was taken. The defendants pointed out today that in the documentation addressing the defendants’ concerns, the team of experts responsible for the Environmental Impact Assessment report acknowledges that many of these concerns could not be met due to the limited mandate of the team or failing data.

"In its last paragraph, the expert team therefore recommends the EIA procedure to be restarted after a design for the power plant is chosen.", Alexander Kodjabashev, attorney for the defendenats explained.

Petko Kovachev, one of the defendants and energy expert for the organsiation CEE Bankwatch concluded: "We demand for that reason that the existing EIA is nullified. We pointed out to the court that it is of vital importance for the choice of design also to compare possible environmental impacts. We therefore demand a completely new assessment for both of the presently considered designs."

In today’s court hearing, the court did not accept the demand for further expertise on the issues of vulnerability of the Belene nuclear powers station to terrorist attack and on the sufficiency of the studied alternatives to a nuclear power station. The court now prepares a decision for the end of January or February 2006.

"We appreciate the courts decision to refrain from further expert evidence in a sense that it is obvious that a structure that according to the Environmental Assessment could withstand the pressure of 5 to 20 tons, is not sufficiently strong to withstand the impact of a medium sized passenger airplane flown by a terrorist. Also the fact that the EIA looks at outdated coal technology as only alternative to nuclear power is so rediculous that the court obviously did not need further explanation in the matter. We are confident that the judges will look fairly at the arguments on the table and come to the conclusion that this Environmental Impact Assessment should not have been approved.", says Jan Havercamp.

Macedonia joins

Bulgarian officials last month invited Macedonia to participate in the Belene project. In a reaction to this proposal, a debate started within Macedonian society whether it should adopt nuclear technology for its energy needs. This resulted in the end of last week in the request of the Macedonian Environment Minstry to the Foreign Ministry to invoke the Espoo convention.

The Espoo convention on transboundary environmental impact assessments prescribes that countries that may be affected by a project can demand that there will also be an Environmental Impact Assessment procedure in their own country. "In case of a heavy accident in Belene or in case of a errorist attack on the power station, also Macedonia will feel the effects. Certainly when my country debates to participate in the project, we should be allowed to study the possible impacts and have our concerns considered in the final decision to build or not build Belene.", comments Marija Jankovska from Eco-Sense, a Macedonian environmental organisation.