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By Olga
Deryabina and Mark Mamrykine (Ecoline and
ECOLOGIA-International in Russia)
Background An urgent problem in Tomsk oblast (region) in southwest Siberia is the further development of the complex of nuclear facilities (named Siberian Chemical Complex, SCC) that already exists in the city of Seversk (formerly Tomsk-7) which situated 13 km/8 miles from city of Tomsk. The still operating military (nuclear-weapon related) production is a source of enormous concern to environmentalists. Current plans for the development and expansion of the Seversk nuclear complex include storage for nuclear missile heads, a missile decomposition facility, a heat production nuclear power plant (HPNPP), and a new nuclear power plant for electricity production. The plans to build a heat production nuclear power plant has been a subject of urgent discussion on in the Tomsk region since 1992. At that time, the activists of the environmental movement tried to organize a public environmental review (PER). PER allows independent experts to conduct a review of development plans using the same documents the government uses in its assessment. Since Minatom (the Ministry of Nuclear Energy) and the Russian government are openly planning to further develop nuclear power in Russia, the state environmental reviews of nuclear development projects can be very positive about nuclear power. PER is a legal mechanism citizens can use to provide a critical analysis of nuclear plans and support public participation in decision-making. The public environmental review did not take place in 1996 because the developer (Siberian Chemical Complex, SCC, together with Minatom) announced that the project was not fully developed and therefore was not ready for any kind of evaluation. Then activists organized public hearings in 1996 to discuss the possibility of the construction of the heat production nuclear power plant (HPNPP), regional needs in heat production, and alternatives to HPNPP development. The Tomsk Regional Government Administration supported this initiative and took part in the organization of the public hearings. The concluding document of the public hearings announced that it is not necessary for the region to build an HPNPP as a source of heat production; completing a natural gas thermo-station would be the best choice. At that time energy-saving approaches were not even under consideration. In early 2000 the situation changed. Siberian Chemical Complex announced about readiness of HPNPP project documents and conducted public hearings on the HPNPP building issue in Seversk – the city closed for people from Tomsk and Tomsk oblast (region). This shift in policy was caused by increased activity by Minatom on the national level and was related to the fact that there was an inadequate amount of heat for Tomsk during the 1997-98 winter, which was caused by instability of the natural gas supply. The Tomsk community was not informed and hence was not involved in the decision-making process. The state environmental review of the Investment Feasibility Study for the HPNPP was started in May 2000. The Nuclear Communities Project The project work in this region is focused on strengthening public participation in decision-making about the development of the nuclear complex. Ecoline is concentrating its activities in three directions, namely:
Public Environmental Review The PER was started up in February 2000 by team of professionals (physicists, chemists, geologist, biologists, psychologists, specialists on nuclear safety, specialists on safety of nuclear reactors, etc.). More than 20 persons worked on the group conclusions that were united into the General Conclusion of the PER, which was signed by 8 persons (the heads of professionals groups). The General Conclusion was completed by August 11, 2000. It was passed to all concerned organizations: to State Environmental Review Committee, to SCC, to the Tomsk oblast (region) and city Administration, to the State and Oblast Committees of Ecology (now restructured), to all partner NGOs (International Social-Ecological Union, Tomsk Movement “Ecological Initiative”, Tomsk Ecological-Legal Center, TESI, and others). The main conclusion was that the project to build a HPNNP must be re-developed. (A link to the full-text online copy of the Tomsk Public Environmental Review can be found on the main "Russian Case Study" page of this website.) In Tomsk official public hearings were conducted on September 15, 2000 after long pressure (since April 2000) from public organizations (see above) and PER team (ECOLOGIA/Ecoline project). There were about 400 participants, 45 from them made their speeches. In accordance with official policy Tomsk Administration provided the most of time to SCC representatives. Tomsk public hearings importance consisted in the free access for every Tomsk and Tomsk oblast citizen to be informed about the possibility of the building of a HPNPP, and about the Administration conclusion about the necessity to revise the AST-500 project. Unfortunately, the last has appeared in February 2001 only – directly to the state environmental review (SER) last meeting and so was not taken into account by SER. Local project partners We have several partners in the Tomsk region:
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