Krasimira Ilieva, senior research of Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy of Bulgaria

– Russia has never dismissed nuclear energy unlike some European states

Public hearings on the environmental impact assessment of the construction of the 3rd and 4th units of Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant-2 took place in Sosnovy Bor (Leningrad region) June 16. Almost 600 people – representatives of the administration and the legislative assembly of Leningrad region, political parties, non-governmental organizations, mass media and manufacturing companies as well as residents of Sosnovy Bor – took part in the discussion.

I think that, if NPP construction projects are no frozen, it means that nuclear industry is developing. Russia has never dismissed nuclear energy unlike some European states. One of the key problems today is personnel training. This is a general problem. We need a strategy for training professional personnel. Only this will ensure stable nuclear renaissance.

The conduct of public hearings has been a general tendency in the world in the last 20 years. Public hearings show what people think about nuclear energy, if they want it. They make nuclear society more conscious and responsible.

The construction of LNPP-2 is part of the federal target program for the development of the energy industry of Russia 2007–2015 approved by the Government of the Russian Federation on Oct 5 2006. The total cost of the project is almost 70bln RUR. The project is analogous to the units built by Russian specialists at Tianwan NPP in China – WWER-1000. The 1st unit is to be launched in 2013.