News

The 7th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context will be held, in conjunction with the 3rd session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol, in Minsk from 13 to 16 June 2017. The case of the Ostrovets nuclear power plant (NPP) will also be discussed amongst other issues.

The Implementation Committee draws attention to the fact that it is necessary to examine and evaluate the Ostrovets NPP’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) documents, and to answer fundamental questions concerning the project. Lithuania and Belarus are suggested to set up a temporary international group of experts who would carry out an independent analysis of documents concerning the case of the Ostrovets NPP and would report their findings to the Implementation Committee.

At the meeting, Lithuania will seek to have the international group of experts set up, because international expertise of the EIA documents may reveal the true scale of environmental and nuclear safety problems facing the Ostrovets NPP.

The international group of experts shall review compliance with the provisions of the Espoo Convention, as well as requirements and recommendations of other international environmental organizations and international organisations involved in nuclear safety guidance, and provide analysis of the following issues: (1) selection and assessment of NPP sites; (2) impacts on cross-border rivers and drinking water; (3) management of spent fuel and radioactive waste; (4) assessment of demographic characteristics of population living around the planned nuclear power plant and emergency preparedness, as well as (5) resistance of the NPP in case of a heavy airplane crash.

Lithuania’s position is that the transboundary EIA process of the Ostrovets NPP remains open, because the country’s questions regarding the NPP safety were not answered. Neither public hearings nor expert consultations took place. However, according to the provisions of the Espoo Convention, a transboundary EIA procedure must be completed before the construction of nuclear facilities begins.