Kazakhstan ecologists object to nuclear plant in Aktau

Kazakhstan ecologists are calling for a moratorium on construction of a nuclear power plant in Aktau, Director of the Social-Economic Fund in Almaty Kaisha Atakhanova told Tengrinews.kz during the meeting of Kazakhstan Minister of Environment Nurlan Kapparov with non-government organizations. “Considering the unstable situation in Iran, which is the Caspian region, construction of the nuclear power plant in this region could have grave consequences. One way or another Iranian conflict will affect Kazakhstan and we think it is time to ban construction of the plant there,” Atakhanova said. According to Atakhanova, the social situation is tense in this region and the issue of construction has to be resolved right now, as the majority of Kazakhstan residents are against construction of the nuclear reactor. “The population is not sufficiently well informed on what is happening at the territory of former Aktau BN-350 (fast neutron reactor) and how the nuclear reactor is being removed from service. Moreover, they think that the platform for the new reactor has been constructed and the decision has been already made. That’s why they are very worried,” ecologist said. Kaisha Aitakhanova said that the fund constantly receives letters and applications from citizens of the region concerned about the plans to construct the new reactor. “Especially after Fukushima and especially that we know that this catastrophe, as well as Chernobyl one, haven’t been solved yet. We wrote the requests and sent the citizens’ applications to the government and asked to declare a moratorium, as the situation in the world have changed a lot. There is no reactor in the world that would stand against natural disasters and catastrophes. There is a human factor as well,” she said.