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Tuesday, 15.03.2011
Criticism: "Russia's nuclear power plants are not safe"
Moscow. Japan is shaking and so is the international belief in the safety of nuclear power. Only the Russian Government shows no concern even as its ecologists warn of low safety standards in their own country.
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"It’s not so bad" - who currently sees the news on Russian state television, will get the impression that earthquakes and tsunamis are enormous, however, the risk of a nuclear accident is negligible.
No comparison to Chernobyl
The events in the Japanese nuclear power plants are not as bad as anticipated, commented a representative of the Russian nuclear monopoly, Rosatom, the only people who were available to answer questions to the matter. Comparisons with the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, quarter of a century ago are avoided.
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In fact, the disasters are fundamentally different. While in Fukushima, the supply of energy to the power station was interrupted due to external circumstances, while an unsuccessful experiment resulted in the Chernobyl reactor meltdown and explosion. The released radioactivity in Chernobyl is a million times higher than currently in Fukushima.
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But that does not mean that a similar case to Japan could not happen in Russia.
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Safty is extremely low
While the authorities announce that Russian nuclear power plants are the "safest in the world”, environmental activists oppose categorically: "The safety of Russian nuclear power stations is extremely low," Vladimir Slivjak, Head of environmental group, Ecodefense, told Russia-now.
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The Russian nuclear industry is not immune to being struck by a disaster like the one that has hit Japan this week. It doesn’t require an earthquake measuring nine on the richter scale says Sliwjak , pointing out that in 1993, a storm had cut the electrical lines for the Kola nuclear power plant near Murmansk, that caused power failure for hours afterwards. "That nothing more serious happened was pure luck," says Sliwjak.
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Secrecy around nuclear power in Russia
Other nuclear power stations had repeated breakdowns in recent years. However, the exact number is not known by the environmentalists, as the data is being kept secret.
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The Russian nuclear program is not accessible to any public control. This reduces the national safety considerably , says Slivjak "Nothing is more important than Rusatom’s corporate interests and no one wants to talk about existing problems," complains the ecologist.
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In fact, Moscow does not want to discredit its nuclear program in any way. 26 new nuclear power stations, almost as many as the total in Soviet times, are to be built throughout the country to increas the share of nuclear energy from 20 to 30 percent.
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Hopes for nuclear export
In addition, the government hopes to earn billions of revenue from the export of nuclear technologies. Russian engineers have already started the construction of new kilns in China, India and Iran. Therefore, Moscow won’t allow safety concerns to get in the way of business.
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Slivjak hopes that other countries will change their view. Projects, such as the nuclear power plant in Belene, Bulgaria, that Rosatom is a partner in, are even more questionable, after the events in Japan. This would move Russia’s nuclear technology soon onto the sidelines - at least in foreign countries the demand is expected to decline.
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