The Environmental Rights Center, Bellona, on January released a scathing report on the state of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant (LNPP) by 27-year veteran plant worker-turned whistleblower, sacked in 2000 for his tireless efforts to expose the crumbling state of the plant, which runs four fatally flawed Chernobyl-style RBMK-1000 reactors.
(604.5582) Bellona Foundation - The LNPP located a mere 70 kilometers west of St Petersburg's five million citizens in the town of Sosnovy Bor, remains an information black hole for those seeking information about it's activities, the state of its reactors (some of which have long surpassed their engineering life span), the waste that it routinely pours into the Gulf of Finland, and other radioactive industries that run on its territory.
With the publication of this report, entitled "The Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant as a Mirror of Atomic Energy in Russia," by Sergei Kharitonov, many questions are answered, and yet more raised.
30 years of engineered life span
Last December, the LNPP celebrated its 30th year of service with much pomp and circumstance and enumerated its accomplishments. Its operators reveled in memories of the furious pace at which the plant's first reactor was built, "on the spongy, swampy shores of the Gulf of Finland" in time for 1973's Energy Day holiday. They trumpeted their own horns about how the LNPP is the primary source of electricity Russia's north western region, supplying some 50% of St Petersburg and the Leningrad region's energy. Kharitonov's report is a response to those victorious revelries.
The 30th anniversary also marked the engineered life span of the plant's first reactor, which in the opinions of its development engineers and builders should signal its closure and removal from the grid.
The Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom) however plans to extend the LNPP's decaying reactors' service periods by another five to 15 years causing alarm amongst the environmentally-minded public and raising a host of disturbing questions as to how and why this decision was made - does Minatom lack funds decommissioning?
The LNPP's No. 1 power bloc operates a first generation RMBK-1000 reactor, the same type of fatally flawed reactor that exploded at Chernobyl in 1986. In fact, the LNPP's No 1 reactor is even older than the one that caused humanity's worst nuclear accident to date. It was precisely the RBMK-1000 reactor that Igor Kurchatov, the father of Russian nuclear science, was referring to when he said "we say 'atomic energy,' but imply atomic bomb, we say 'peaceful atomic energy' and imply nuclear submarines."
Currently, the LNPP's No. 1 bloc is undergoing modernization and repairs that are expected to finish this summer. Its operators will then apply to Gosatomnadzor (GAN), Russia's nuclear regulatory agency, for a license to extend the reactor's life span. Conjecture would indicate that, as a result of recent management reshuffles at GAN that have put former Minatom brass in charge, obtaining the license will not be difficult.
Late last year, the government retired GAN's former chief, Yury Vishnevsky although he was to serve another five years at the agency's helm. Vishnevsky had guided GAN through the democratic reforms of the early 1990s, and for a decade had resisted, mostly unsuccessfully, Minatom's efforts to sideline GAN. Andrei Malyshev, appointed straight from the ranks of first deputy minister of Minatom, is his replacement.
Then two weeks ago, Malyshev retired Alexander Dmitriyev, one of the world's foremost authorities on plutonium disposition, just weeks before he was due to leave his post this March. In Dmitriyev's place, Malyshev appointed Valery Bezzubtsev, formerly a department head at Minatom. Other reshuffles in GAN's offices throughout Russia are taking place.
The legal criteria that guides GAN as it considers granting extension licenses, the Russian law "On the Use of Atomic Energy", does not contain any language on the engineering life-spans of NPPs. According to the law, it is not important how long a NPP works for as long as it works safely and without safety violations.
"According to the information on hand, including that collected by Kharitonov, violations at LNPP are the usual practice," said former GAN inspector and respected Russian environmentalist, Vladimir Kuznetsov in an interview with Bellona Web.
In May 2000, reactor No.1 was shut down because a piece of rubber had been left in the passageway through which nuclear fuel is put into the reactor. The replacement of radiation detectors on reactor bloc No.3 led to its shut down because the replacements used were old rather than new. In late 2003, so-called servo motor units purchased though a middleman at prices inflated to five times the market value were later stolen from the plant. Each one of these violations and incidents could lead to unimaginable consequences for the 63,000 residents of Sosnovy Bor, the five million in St Petersburg and for Northwest Russia in general. Data on these violations and incidents at the LNPP are documented in Kharitonov's newly released report.
Sergei Kharitonov
The report's author worked at LNPP from 1973 until 2000 as an operator of the spent nuclear fuel storage unit. He was also a liquidator at Chernobyl and was honored for his work at both facilities. He is also an environmental activist, who was harassed at the plant, resulting in his eventual firing for his outspoken critiques of the plant's violations and oversights and his commitment to working according to the book.
Please note that this article has been edited but can be found in full at www.bellona.org. The report, in Russian, is also on the website (English translation available soon).
Source and contact: Bellona Foundation, P.O. Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
Email: info@bellona.no
Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00
Fax: +47 22 38 38 62
ANTI-NUCLEAR TOUR DE FRANCE
This spring, people from several European countries will travel in convoy through France in efforts to provide information on nuclear energy, its dangers and of the possibilities and advantages of renewable energy. The launch of the tour is scheduled for the weekend before Chernobyl day (26 April) when a colorful demonstration will hits the streets of Brussels.
The tour de France is organized by the French network, Sortir du Nucleaire and is endorsed by international networks like as Greenpeace, WISE/NIRS and Friends of the Earth. The planned route will pass through Alsace, Lorraine, Bourgogne, Rhône valley, Bretagne and Normandie.
Plan de tour
- People from various European countries will follow the route with an itinerary illustrating the nuclear power chain (research, enrichment, nuclear power stations, reprocessing, transportation, radioactive waste storage etc) and will have the opportunity to visit and learn about sustainable development projects and alternatives.
- Short theatrical and/or musical spectacles will be performed close to the site of the day (nuclear or renewable) and welcoming groups (local and regional) will provide information on their campaign-work and give an overview of their situation.
- Participants march the last 2-3 kilometers to the nearest city where there will be a more extensive program of events including exhibitions, film, theater spectacles and music, in order to inform the citizens.
- During the whole tour, the group will prepare banners, posters, music performances to be used at the last day of the tour when a large demonstration will be held at a yet to be determined location.
Given the technical limitations, it is no longer possible to join the entire tour but there are many ways of getting involved.
For more information, contact: André Larivière, Nérol, 43440 Champagnac le Vieux, France;
Tel: +33 (0) 4 71 76 36 40 or 06 76 69 54 98,
Email: andre.lariviere@club-internet.fr,
Web: www.sortirdunucleaire.org
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