The Political Committee of the Russian United
Democratic Party YABLOKO is sending deep condolences to the
Japanese people in connection with tragedy resulting from
the natural disaster. Destruction of nuclear power stations
prone with additional radiation exposure for people and dangerous
pollution of the territories is especially dangerous and presents
a continuous threat to the population. Attempts to stop the
tragic developments have not been much successful so far.
Never before has the world witnessed accidents simultaneously
at several nuclear power plants.
For the first time in history a reactor with mixed uranium-plutonium
fuel which is much more dangerous than uranium turned out
is a catastrophic condition.
It may turn out that the mankind is simply not ready for
this!
We hope that the heroic efforts of Japanese liquidators will
not let the catastrophe develop according to the worst scenario.
Citizens from radiation contaminated areas in Russia, Ukraine
and Belarus, who have been facing the consequences of the
Chernobyl disaster for 25 years already, are well aware how
terrible the "peaceful atom" can be.
The Political Committee of the Russian United Democratic
Party YABLOKO demands from the Russian government, despite
all the reassurances, to provide real protection from radioactive
fallout for hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens in the
Far East.
We believe that in the face of our common disaster coordination
between all countries of the Pacific is needed.
We must immediately prepare how to protect people against
the inevitable spread of radioactive contamination over large
areas.
Technical measures required for this are well known since
the Chernobyl disaster. And preparations to deploy them should
begin immediately under personal supervision of the Prime
Minister.
It is also necessary to distribute among the population information
about preventive measures and rules of behaviour in the conditions
of radioactive contamination and conduct necessary exercises.
In addition, the Political Committee of the Russian United
Democratic Party YABLOKO believes that the shocking videos
of the consequences of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan
will make our government and heads of our nuclear industry
to abandon their broad-scale plans for construction of new
nuclear power plants without consideration of local conditions
and opinion of the population of the neighbouring areas. The
Russian government should also conduct a comprehensive and
independent from the Rosatom (Russian Atomic Agency) corporation,
verification of safety requirements at nuclear power stations
considering natural, technological and terrorist threats.
It is required to urgently begin closing the plants that
have exhausted their resources and revise such a dangerous
decisions as extending of exploitation term for the old units
of the Leningrad nuclear power station for another 15 years.
The ongoing programme targeted at spread of floating nuclear
power plants (FNPP) seems extremely dangerous in light of
the tragic events in Japan. In 2012, according to Rosatom
plans, the first floating nuclear power plant will be launched
by the berth in the Vilyuchinsk city on the eastern coast
of Kamchatka.
In case of disaster, and the probability of such is very
high in Kamchatka, the FNPP could be turned over and sunk
or thrown on the shore, as other ships have sunk or have been
thrown onto the coast [during disasters]. This would mean
the following: inevitable meltdown of nuclear fuel (which
is much more enriched than the fuel used in terrestrial nuclear
power plants), uncontrollable chain reaction and the turning
of two small nuclear reactors into two large atomic bombs.
Rosatom does not conceal that it has been preparing its "floating
Hiroshimas" for leasing them to Indonesia, the Philippines,
Vietnam, and several other countries in South-East Asia, rather
than Russia.
The Political Committee of the Russian United Democratic
Party YABLOKO considers it unacceptable to turn Russia into
a dumping ground for uncontrolled radioactive waste and nuclear
pollutant of the ocean.
We view the events in Japan as a warning signal, which must
force the Russian authorities to reconsider their strategy
of nuclear power development.
There are also grounds to presume that commercial approaches
rather than national interests lie in the foundations of such
policies at present. So far, the main “achievement” of the
new heads of Rosatom has been only rapid growth of tariffs
on the generated electrical energy.
At the same time colossal federal budget funds are allotted
to the support of the industry that do not commensurate with
the support of other industries.
Instead of creating excessive number of new nuclear power
plants, the money could be allotted to energy saving, modernisation
of traditional industries of the energy sector (first of all,
the gas industry) and Greenfield establishment of non-traditional
(wind, solar, geothermal) industries of the energy sector.
The external expansion of Rosatom, which is aiming at "bestowing"
other nations with peaceful atom looks extremely dubious.
The costs of such expansion are as follows:
1. diversion of financial resources from more urgent problems
in Russia;
2. weakening of the nuclear nonproliferation regime;
3. imports into Russia of new parties of spent nuclear fuel
and radioactive waste, i.e., radioactive waste which we have
already accumulated a lot in our temporary storages.
The prospects of importing into our country of foreign nuclear
waste which are opened now in connection with ratification
of agreements on cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy
between Russia and the US (“1-2-3”) are extremely dangerous
in terms of nuclear security.
In order to analyse the activities of the current heads of
Rosatom and examine its policies the Political Committee of
the YABLOKO party proposes to the President of the Russian
Federation to establish an expert commission independent from
Rosatom which could join together experts on nuclear energy,
economists, environmentalists and doctors.
The YABLOKO party is ready to send its experts to such a
commission.
Russia's government should realise: if it fails to learn
lessons from the present tragedy, possible man-induced or
terrorist nuclear disasters may turn the territory of Russia
into a lifeless "Stalker Zone" tomorrow.
The Political Committee of the YABLOKO party believes that
such a development is unacceptable to Russia.
See also:
Yabloko
for Nuclear Safety
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