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Interview with Jan Havercamp, Greenpeace expert for nuclear energy
Invest in energy efficiency, not in a nuclear power plant
After the open invitation that the Bulgarian president Georgi Prvanov had addressed to the Macedonian authorities for our country’s involvement in the building of nuclear power plant in Belene, Bulgaria, Jan Haverkamp, an expert for nuclear energy from the international environmental organization Greenpeace, arrived in Skopje. The aim of his visit was to meet Macedonian civil society organizations that work in the area of environmental protection and to inform them about the actual condition and problems about building the nuclear power plant.
Our Government has not taken a stand on possible involvement of Macedonia in the Belane project yet. Experts warn that by 2012 new production capacities will have been provided by the country with power of at least 800 megawatts and therefore all alternatives need to be considered. Your attitude is opposed. You are against building of the nuclear power plant in Belene. What are your arguments?
There is a thing called energy efficiency and it can be used in this case. A hundred dollars investment in energy efficiency is more profitable than a hundred dollars investment in a nuclear power plant. I think that Macedonian people are not well informed about what investing in building a nuclear power plant means. It means that you should take care of the nuclear waste and the care will last for a hundred thousand years, it is something that needs to be kept for such a long time.
The possibility for terrorist attacks should also be taken into consideration. Nuclear power plants have been terrorists’ targets for the last ten years. A possible terrorist attack would first have a negative effect on the immediate surroundings where the nuclear power plant is located, and then it would be felt wider.
The process of building Belene has been followed by many manipulations and corruption. There are problems about technical documentation, in the process of evaluation of environmental effect, as well as in the tender procedure. From an economic aspect, primary assessment is that Macedonia should invest about 500 million dollars, but it is only a primary price, we still do not know the final amount. According to the primary evaluation, the price for kilowatt-hour would be 4 cents, but with further risks that would occur in the building process, it would increase much more. By entering the project of building a nuclear power plant in Belene Macedonia risks the population to feel consequences of socio-economic aspect.
Are those 500 million Euros sufficient for Macedonia to use alternative methods for getting electrical power?
If we say that the mining-energetic industrial complex Bitola could be replaced with wind, we would be incorrect because it is impossible. However, it can be invested in new renewable sources, to invest in energy efficiency. If Macedonia invested in a nuclear power plant in Bulgaria, it would be dependent on that energy. It would be imported energy, as Bulgaria is dependent on the uranium coming from Russia. But if it was invested in renewable sources of energy, for example wind plants, use of solar energy, biomass energy, it would all happen in Macedonia. It would be domestic energy because you would use your winds and sun, you would use Macedonian biomass. Macedonian engineers would work on improving energy efficiency, so you would use domestic resources. Macedonia would get long-term cheaper energy.
In 1977 near Belane there was a strong earthquake. Is there an appropriate analysis for justification for building a nuclear power plant in that area?
One of the points that Greenpeace react on is the part of the report about evaluation of the effect upon environment. In the report it is stated that Belene is not in the vicinity of an area susceptible to earthquakes. But it is a fact that in 1977 14 km from Belane there was great earthquake and 200 people were killed. So these data show how much the preparation of the EIA study and the experts involved in it have been corrupted. We still have a court case in Bulgaria about the parts of the EIA study for which we have remarks.
I think that now it is favorable time for the Macedonian population to express its opinion. Macedonian Government should refer to the ESPO convention that guarantees the rights for trans-border projects in terms of environment, to ask Bulgaria to submit the study for evaluation of the effect upon environment. It should be available to Macedonian people so that they could react properly and express their opinion.
According to the European directives, 60% of the nuclear power plants in EU that are the biggest producers of power have to be closed by 2012. What should Macedonia be careful about before making the final decision?
The Macedonian Government should refer to the ESPO Convention. When it sees how many problems there are with the existing evaluation of the effect on environment, it will become clear to them that in the financial part there are much more problems. We should not forget that on 26th April 2006 it will be 20 years since the Chernobyl catastrophe. In the next few months it would be good for the Macedonian public to get familiar with all the facts about nuclear power plants. It is necessary to organize debates where citizens will realize that there are alternatives and that nuclear energy is unnecessary. Greenpeace has recently prepared a scenario where we guarantee that the EU member countries by 2025 will have been able to completely replace nuclear power plants for getting electrical power. We offer a solution by 2050 to decrease the use of fossil fuels up to 80%. Also the price of electricity to be competitive for the OECD countries. This is valid for 25 EU members but this scenario also involves the countries waiting for a green light to enter the EU and those negotiating.
The conditions are more favorable for them because the opportunities for using renewable energy are good and that is why it should be worked on energy efficiency.
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