379 / 536
365
CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ
DO THE EUROPEANS HAVE THE RIGHT TO GET INFORMATION ABOUT…
2. The Right to Get Information about the Construction of a Nuclear
Power Plant in Ostrovets, Belarus
The first, preliminary information about Belarus’ plans to construct a nuclear
power plant (hereinafter – NPP) in the Ostrovets area appeared in the media in
2006–2008. The site for the NPP was selected in 2008, and the preparatory work
on the infrastructure started in January 2009. Lithuania was informed officially for
the first time about the plans to build a NPP in 15 July 2008, but the required
information was provided in August 2009 with the preliminary environmental
impact assessment (hereinafter – EIA) documentation.
32
In 2 March 2010 Belarusian
authorities organised a hearing on the Ostrovets NPP EIA documentation, but more
than 80 persons attending the meeting did not get proper answers to the questions
they had due to a lack of translation and the inability of the Belarusian authorities to
answer the questions posed.
33
On 15 September 2011 the President of the Republic
of Belarus issued a decree approving the Ostrovets site for the construction of the
NPP.
34
On 9 August 2012 the symbolic time-capsule laying ceremony, which meant
the commencement of the construction of the NPP, was held with the participation
of the President of the Republic of Belarus.
35
Regarding the EIA documentation, it can be noted that at first the preliminary
version of the EIA documentation was provided to Lithuania in August 2009; but
later it became known that Belarus had drawn up an EIA report which was four
times as voluminous, and was made publicly available on 4 March 2010, but it was
not mentioned to the Lithuanian authorities until 18 June 2010. Furthermore, the
full report was available for some time only in Minsk without any possibility to
make copies.
These and other actions of Belarusian authorities will be evaluated in the light
of international legal rules providing the right to information applicable to the present
situation: the Convention on Nuclear Safety, the Convention on Environmental
Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, and the Convention on Access
to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in
Environmental Matters.
32
The Ministry of the Environment of the Republic of Lithuania,
Submission of the Republic of Lithuania
Requesting to Investigate the Compliance of the Republic of Belarus with the Provisions of the Aarhus
Convention in the Course of the Implementation f the Project for the Construction of a Nuclear Power Plant
in Belarus
(Submission to the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention, 25 March 2015) 1.
33
Ibid
.
34
Belarus had indicated previously three possible sites for the construction of NPP – that is, Krasnaya Polyana
site (Bykhov area), the Kukshinovo site (Shklow-Gorky area) and the Ostrovets site (Ostrovets area).
35
Submission of Lithuania (supra n 32) 5.