People in Sosnovyi Bor discuss constructing new nuclear reactors

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The prospect of the construction of a new nuclear plant interests people in the Russian city of Sosnovyi Bor on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. On Wednesday, the city's Culture Centre was filled to capacity when the locals were offered a chance to hear about the environmental impact of LNPP-2, the planned new power station.
      Two new nuclear reactors are scheduled to be erected in Sosnovyi Bor in the course of the next seven years. These would replace the over 30-year-old No. 1 and No. 2 reactors.
      "The new reactors are perfectly safe. We will use the same solutions as in the power plants offered to Finland, and the ones we have built in China", said Deputy Director General Vladimir Asmolov of Rosenergoatom, Russia's federal nuclear energy company.
      According to Sosnovyi Bor Mayor Valeri Nekrasov, "the local residents have already accepted the construction of the new plant".
     
The critical comments by the representatives of various environmental organisations were nevertheless also greeted with applause.
      Physicist Oleg Bodrov, director of the local environmental organisation Green World, demanded that building a new power plant should be discussed at international level.
      "The shutting down of the present reactors also calls for dialogue. Where are the EUR 2.5 billion needed to close them down?" Bodrov questioned.
      Greenpeace representative Vladimir Tshuprov wondered in turn why the new station's protective structures have been planned to withstand an impact of a 20-ton aircraft, when modern jets weigh in excess of 120 tons.
     
Many people also voiced their concerns over the fate of the produced nuclear waste. According to an environmental clarification, the waste would be stored on site in Sosnovyi Bor for ten years, after which it would be sent to "a temporary storage centre or a reprocessing plant".
      "In Russia we do not have a reprocessing plant capable of treating waste from this type of reactor", Tshuprov insisted.
      Martti Poutanen, representative of the Finnish Ministry of the Environment, was displeased with the fact that Finland had not received an official notification from Russia concerning the planned construction of a new nuclear plant. "Based on the Espoo Agreement, Russia should inform its neighbours on such undertakings", he said.
     
The plans for LNPP-2 suggest that each unit will have a minimum capacity of 1,150 MW. They will be of the type WWER (Water-Water Energetic Reactor).
      At present the site contains four rather elderly reactors of the graphite-moderated Chernobyl type. They came on stream between 1973 and 1981.
      Running down and closure of the oldest two reactors should begin in 2018.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Russia wants to extend life of Sosnovyi Bor nuclear plant through 2026 (17.5.2005)
  BACKGROUND: Oldest Chernobyl-type reactors operate on Gulf of Finland shore (17.5.2005)
  FACTFILE: Sosnovyi Bor - a closed city (17.5.2005)

Links:
  Rosenergoatom

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