Final Peer Review Report Confirms Baltic EIA Complies With International Standards

2 Mar (NucNet): A final report published by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and released today by Russian authorities confirms that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the two-unit Baltic nuclear power station under construction in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad complies with international standards. An IAEA expert group carried out a peer review of the EIA in February 2014 and released its preliminary findings in November 2014. The group assessed radiation protection and monitoring, radioactive waste and the transport of spent nuclear fuel as they relate to IAEA safety standards and the United Nations Espoo convention (the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context). The Espoo Convention stipulates that the possible transboundary impact of a nuclear station must be examined. The EIA looked at states near the construction site, specifically Lithuania, Poland and Belarus. In September 2012, Rosatom’s director-general at the time, Sergei Kiriyenko, sent an open letter to the government of Lithuania calling for official consultations on the project to build two VVER-1200 nuclear reactor units. Mr Kiriyenko said in the letter that he was reconfirming his readiness for an “open and direct dialogue” on the project. The open letter was motivated by Lithuanian officials’ statements concerning alleged non-transparency surrounding the project, he said. The Baltic nuclear plant project is in the Neman district of the Kaliningrad enclave between Poland and Lithuania. The first of the two units had been scheduled to go online in 2016 and the second in 2018, but the project has been delayed because Russia is considering a smaller reactor type for the site. The IAEA said the role of the Baltic-1 plant will be to provide for the increasing electricity demand in the Kaliningrad region, and to allow for the possibility of exports of electricity to neighbouring states. The IAEA’s report is online: http://bit.ly/2lWUNLP