Stanislav Mitrakhovich, senior expert of National Energy Security Foundation

– Our citizens see what is going on in Europe: people there are beginning to talk about nuclear renaissance

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.

The key reason is the crisis: people understand that any curtailment in the nuclear industry will result in higher unemployment and social tensions.

As regards safety, people see that nuclear energy is absolutely safe. Nuclear power plants are much safer than most of our mining factories. Just go to the mining cities and you will see that they never have white snow.

The Chernobyl syndrome is fading away. Our citizens see what is going on in Europe: people there are beginning to talk about nuclear renaissance. We see that the German and Swedish parliaments are actively debating this issue. The former nuclear phase-out decisions are being revised. Particularly, in Germany the Christian Democrats say that the decision of Schroeder’s coalition must be revoked and that the German NPPs must not be shut down. Similar things are happening in Sweden. Our people see it and this is reflected in their views.

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.