OREANDA-NEWS. March 20, 2009. Public hearings on the preliminary environmental impact assessment of the construction and operation of Seversk Nuclear Power Plant took place in Seversk, Tomsk region, Mar 19 2009. Over 800 people took part in the hearings in Seversk with 200 people participating in the discussion in Tomsk by means of video broadcasting. Now the organizers of the hearings are drafting a protocol, which will include all remarks and recommendations made during the debates. According to the law, the protocol should be adopted within 10 days.   

Representatives of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, Atomenergoprom OJSC, Energoatom Concern OJSC, the administrations of Tomsk region and Seversk closed administrative territorial district, the State Duma of Tomsk region, the dumas of Tomsk and Seversk, the companies and organizations of Seversk, Tomsk and Tomsk region, educational institutions, public organizations and mass media took part in the hearings.

Among the experts invited to the hearings were the member of the State Duma, the vice chairman of the Energy Committee Konstantin Zaytsev, the head of the Department for Work with Public Organizations and Regions of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, the first deputy governor of Tomsk region Sergey Tochilin. The representatives of the general designer of Seversk NPP, the deputy director general for engineering of Atomenergoproekt OJSC (Moscow) Ruben Topchiyan made the keynote report.

The key topic was the radiation and ecological safety of the plant, the technical parameters of its reactors, the quality of the construction work, the economic prospects of the companies of the nearby territories and the region, as a whole. Topchiyan pointed out that Seversk NPP was supposed to be built on the basis of NPP-2006 project with WWER-1200 (pressurized water reactor with a capacity of 1,200MW). “This is an evolutionary modification of the NPP-92 project with WWER-1000. This project meets all Russian and international safety requirements to light water reactors of new generation. The unique technologies offered by the NPP-2006 project allow not only extending the service life of the plant to 60 years but also enhancing its safety and raising its competitiveness on power markets,” Topichiyan said. The key peculiarity of the project is its compliance with modern safety standards due to effective combination of active and passive safety systems and low sensitivity to possible personnel errors. 

Presently, this project is being applied in Voronezh region (Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant-2), Leningrad region (Leningrad Nuclear power Plant-2), India (Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant) and Bulgaria (Belene Nuclear Power Plant).

The speakers pointed out that the decision to build Seversk NPP was aimed at reducing energy shortages in Siberia and ensuring the energy security of Tomsk region. Today, Seversk meets only 38% of its demand.

As many as 8,000 constructors and installers will be needed for Seversk NPP project at its peak time with 1,641 people to employed for operating the plant. Besides, each new job at the plant will generate additional 5–7 jobs in the sphere of services (education, trade, medicine, transport, etc.). Local specialists and organizations will be actively involved in the project.

The cost of the project is 134bln RUR in the prices of 2008. When operative the plant is expected to pay almost 2bln RUR in taxes.