Kiev, Ukraine, August 11, 2015 -- The Kiev City Council has formed the Working Group that will examine the safety of constructing the Central Spent Fuel Storage Facility in the Chernobyl zone. The Working Group has membership of deputies, experts and community leaders.

The Group has four major concerns:

-the initiation of the expert analysis of the documents submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for the adoption of the Law of Ukraine on CSFSF in 2012;
-independent environmental expertise;
-assurance of open access to the information;
-awareness campaign among the public.

According to a member of the Working Group - the City Council deputy Rena Nazarova, the situation with the construction of the Central Spent Fuel Storage Facility is quite complicated.

"For the construction of such a facility it is important to have specific environmental findings, to carry out relevant expertise, to attract independent experts, MPs, and finally to involve the public and let people know about all the possible risks. The process was started a long time ago. However, as of today, any public discussion of this issue has not been held,"- said Nazarova.

She is convinced that such a violation of civil rights and freedoms cannot be ignored - the problem exists and it should be solved. "Another thing is that it had to be solved two or three years ago when it was just the beginning, and there wasn’t any extensive discussion - said Nazarova. - And now Kiev is perplexed and raises the alarm."

In its turn, the public organization “Ukrainian Greens Association” declares that "the adoption of such an important decision, as long-term storage of nuclear waste, should be transparent and open, and not shady and politically motivated."

Activists of eco-organization are concerned that the inhabitants of Kiev, as well as residents of neighboring exclusion zone of three regions have not been asked for the consent to the construction of a nuclear facility, as in Ukraine there is still no law on local referendum. Thus, the population that lives near the 30-kilometer zone cannot influence the decision on the construction of a dangerous object, but is subject to all the risks of radiation.

Extras: CSFSF - The Central Spent Fuel Storage Facility. The agreement was signed for the construction of storage between the US Company Holtec International and NNEGC "Energoatom" (Ukraine) in June 2014. The document deals with renewal of the contract of 2005 for the central storage project development.

Completion of works is scheduled for the late 2017. Spent nuclear fuel from three Ukrainian nuclear power plants – Khmelnytska NPP, Rivne NPP and South-Ukraine NPP will be transported to the CSFSF.

Ukrainian Greens Association – is a non-governmental non-profit organization, which since 2007 has been active in the ideological line of the worldwide movement of "green".

Contact:
Alexandra Baluta
Ukrainian Greens Association
25/12 Khoriva str.,
Kiev, Ukraine, 04071
+380919602492
[email protected]
http://ua-green.org/en