NUCLEAR ENERGY AS A CHALLENGE TO ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH, ECONOMY, AND LEGISLATION. RESOLUTION

To the Presidents and Governments of the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Belarus and Russia,

the European Parliament, the European Commission,

and the International Atomic Energy Agency

RESOLUTION

of the international conference

"NUCLEAR ENERGY AS A CHALLENGE TO ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH, ECONOMY, AND LEGISLATION"

We, scholars and experts as well as members of NGOs, movements, political parties and public figures from the UK, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Belarus, and Russia, have discussed a number of relevant nuclear energy-related economic, environmental and legal issues during an international conference in Vilnius (Lithuania) on 6-8 December.

Guided by the information and expertise shared, we have concluded that construction of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the Baltic region is inadmissible; also, there is a range of pressing issues to address regarding the existing nuclear facilities. Therefore, we demand you:

- to introduce a moratorium on further new NPP construction;

- to develop a plan of early decommissioning of the acting NPPs and replacing them by sustainable energy facilities and systems;

- to adopt an open,transparent, public, responsible and professional approach to nuclear waste handling and decommissioning of the acting NPPs;

- to stop officially use the outdated model of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) for assessing radiological risks for humans' health and to move to that of the European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR), created with more statistical facts and contemporary knowledge taken into consideration;

- to bring the legislation of countries that have joined international environmental conventions (Aarhus and Espoo) in compliance with these conventions.

Our requests are based on the following facts:

Fukushima and Chernobyl NPP accidents have shown that the security foundations declared by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are inadequate, with the damage of the NPPs exceeding their benefits. The current generation failing to solve all the nuclear energy-caused problems and leaving an issue of hazardous nuclear waste handling and NPP decommissioning to further generations to come. So far, no reliable and time-proven technologies have been discovered for nuclear energy production, fuel extraction or waste-handling.

However, in contradiction with these facts, the governments of the Eastern Baltics – Belarus, Russian Federation (Kaliningrad and Leningrad regions), Lithuania, Poland, Finland, and also Czech Republic and Ukraine, are unreasonably optimistic about nuclear energy, planning construction of new NPPs. More than 20 new nuclear reactors are planned, separated by a few hundreds of kilometres from each other. No need to discuss it here, such a high concentration of hazardous nuclear energy facilities demands an objective and sober assessment.

We would like to outline the following acute nuclear energy-related concerns:

- the developers and authors of currently-created projects are not sharing evidence of economic viability of the NPPs;

- radiation risks for people's health, posed by the nuclear industry facilities, are underestimated by the usage of the outdated ICRP model developed in 50s of the last century, even before the discover of the structure of DNA;

- the new NPPs are imposed on the Baltic region population by political decisions falling short of international environmental conventions, with the negative public opinion ignored;

- the scarce experience of the NPP construction in the Baltic region has been marked by failures to meet originally announced deadlines and costs (Olkiluoto-3, Finland), violations and even major accidents (Leningrad NPP-2, Russia);

- the storage and disposal of the spent nuclear fuel and the nuclear waste dump in the Baltic region are not in line with the security requirements, exposing large areas to contamination risks;

- by promoting their nuclear programs, governments deprive themselves of an opportunity to invest into sustainable renewable energy, with immense public funds spent on new NPP project, regardless of hard days for national economies;

- the recent paleogeological research data, in particular, findings on earthquakes, tsunamis and explosive firedamp emissions in the region, are not taken into consideration when choosing locations for nuclear facilities, something posing extra high risks of nuclear accidents;

- the so-called human factor is misjudged, though having proved determinative in radiological accidents and capable of causing deadly consequences for hundreds of thousands years.

We are calling on believers and church representatives of all confessions to support the idea of a nuclear-free Baltic region.

The conference participants are calling on this year's Nobel Prize winners and well-known female peace-promoters to contribute to nuclear-free sustainable development.

Alexey Yablokov, Prof. Dr (Russia)

Alfred Körblein, Dr (Germany)

Christopher Busby, Prof. Dr (United Kingdom)

Miles Goldstick, PhD (Sweden)

Georgy Lepin, Prof. Dr (Belarus)

Nils-Axel Mörner, Assoc. Prof. PhD (Sweden)

Linas Vainius (Lithuania)

Falk Beyer (Germany)

Leonid Andreev, PhD (Norway),

Tatyana Novikova (Belarus)

Alexei Kozlov, Assistant Prof., Dr. (Russia)

International Campaign for Nuclear-Free Region!

Public Association "Ecohome", Belarus

Lithuanian environmental Atgaja Community

Farmers and People's Party of Lithuania

Lithuanian Green Movement Party

Belarusian Party "The Greens"

Movement "Scientists for Nuclear-Free Belarus!"

Belarusian Independent Orthodox Church

Women for Peace, Finland

Group for the Nuclear-Free Belarus!

Movement "Astraviec NPP is a Crime!"

VISI Viešo intereso saugos institutas – VISI – the Institute of the Public Interest Protection, Lithuania