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Zoriana Mishchuk, UNENGO “MAMA-86” Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear sector of Ukraine in the context of the ACN national roundtable Luxembourg, 13.03.2013

Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

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Page 1: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

Zoriana Mishchuk, UNENGO “MAMA-86”

Assessing public information and

participation in the nuclear

sector of Ukraine in the context

of the ACN national roundtable

Luxembourg, 13.03.2013

Page 2: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

The nuclear sector in Ukraine

VVER – 440

VVER – 1000

RBMK – 1000

Research reactors

RW storage facilities

Uranium mining and milling

Page 3: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

Current challenges

Revised Energy Strategy until 2030

- provides for intensive nuclear power development – plus 5-7GW (well

beyond Ukraine’s technical and environmental capacity to sustain it)

- developed and revised without effective public participation and without a

state environmental expertize

Building new blocks of existing NPPs

- decision on construction of 2 blocks of Khmelnytsky NPP already taken (in

violation of the Aarhus and Espoo Conventions)

Plant life-time extension

- many NPP blocks are about to expire (12 out of 15 until 2020) – the

operator seeks their life extension ( South Ukrainian NPP – the most immediate)

-

Page 4: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

Legislative base for public information

and participation in the nuclear sphere

Aarhus convention

Espoo convention

Law of Ukraine “On Information”

Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information”

Law of Ukraine “On Use of Nuclear Energy and Radiation Protection”

Law of Ukraine “On Environmental Protection”

Law of Ukraine on Taking Decisions on Placement, Designing and Construction of Nuclear Facilities and Radioactive Waste Management Facilities of the National-level Importance, etc.

BUT: still lacking legislation providing for the proper EIA and due participatory process in decision-making

Page 5: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

National ACN Roundtable

2010 – First National ACN Roundtable, Kyiv

2012 – Regional ACN Roundtable, Kirovohrad

2013 – National ACN Roundtable “Towards Nuclear

and Radiation Safety through Multi-Stakeholder

Dialogue”, Kyiv

In-between – constant lobbying with the regulator to

enhance information provision and public participation

Page 6: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

National ACN Roundtable

The National ACN Roundtable “Towards Nuclear and Radiation

Safety through Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue” (Kyiv, 21 February 2013)

o organized by UNENGO “MAMA-86”

o in partnership with the SNRIU and support of the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine

o under the aegis of the Parliamentary Committee for Environmental Policy, Use

of Natural Resources and Chernobyl Aftermath

o 85 participants – representatives of NGOs, SNRIU, Energoatom (operating

company), research institutes, media

o 5 international experts plus representatives the EU Delegation, embassies of

EU member-states, etc.

o Discussion both on the state of nuclear safety in Ukraine and the world and

public information and participation (both Aarhus and Espoo conventions

implementation)

Page 7: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

Positive developments

Improved information provision

by the regulator:

- annual reports on the state

of nuclear and radiation

safety,

- regular provision of

information on the website

- FB page,

- telephone hotline,

- work with media, etc.

Page 8: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

Positive developments

A consultative mechanism established on the national level -

SNRIU’s Public council:

- composed of major relevant NGO members

- meets on the regular basis (bimonthly or quarterly)

- regulator’s officials sit on every meeting

- jointly developed agenda

- reports on the topical issues of nuclear and radiation

safety by regulator or other agencies’ representatives

Good for obtaining information but unclear how opinions of

the Public council affect decision-making

Page 9: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

Current Obstacles to ACN process

Ministry of Fuel and Energy, other authorities and operators

are closed to public dialogue

Public consultations do take place but mostly

- formally, without further taking into consideration of

the public opinion

- with arbitrary selection of participants

- without proper access to all the documentation

- at the late stage of decision-making

- public opinion is often manipulated or misused

The situation on the regional level is even worse than on the

central

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“The Dialogue”: two extreme views

Operators&authorities

• NGOs are all ‘bought’

• NGOs are incompetent

and apriori against

everything in the

nuclear industry

• Public does not have

capacity to understand

information on nuclear

safety therefore

doesn’t need this

information

NGOs

• Operators and

authorities do everything

only for their profit, they

don’t care about nuclear

safety – anything they do

is dangerous

• Our aim is non-nuclear

future, therefore we

should not have a

dialogue with operators&

authorities - we should

fight with them

Page 11: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

What is necessary

Improvement of legislation to ensure effective

Aarhus Convention implementation

External pressure (sticks & carrots)

Expertize development

Analytical basis (incl. on external good practices)

Reaching to other stakeholders (local authorities,

TUs, etc.)

Capacity-building for different stakeholders

Fostering the culture of dialogue

Page 12: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

Our vision of the next stage

The national dialogue on public information and participation in the nuclear field is formalized and put on a sustainable track

Representatives of the stakeholders already motived by previous ACN roundtables (SNRIU, civil society organizations such as NECU, EPL and others, interested local government officials, operating organizations, specialized research institutions and others) form the ACN Taskforce

Page 13: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

Suggested ACN Taskforce’ functions

Scrutiny of the Ukrainian legislation

Analysis of the EU legislation and good practices

Preparation of proposals to amend Ukrainian legislation or

develop new one to increase the nuclear industry’s

transparency, public information and participation

Monitoring of the Aarhus Convention implementation in

Ukraine’s nuclear field

Thematic stakeholder dialogues (roundtables) on topical

issues of nuclear safety

Contribution to the European ACN process

Liaison with European counterparts, the Aarhus Convention

Secretariat, etc.

Page 14: Assessing public information and participation in …€¦ · Assessing public information and participation in the nuclear ... Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public ... (SNRIU, civil

MAMA-86 is committed to

Serve as a Secretariat of the Taskforce

Mobilize stakeholders to engage in the Taskforce formation

Popularize the European ACN process in Ukraine

Bring this issue to the attention of civil society in the Eastern

Partnership region (Belarus, Armenia are nuclear states, others

also affected) via EaP CSF

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Thank you for your attention!

We are looking forward to new partnerships and further exchange of ideas

[email protected]

14 Chapayeva Str., Office 1

Kyiv 01030, Ukraine

+38 (044) 227-0257