Iryna Sukhij: “Chernobyl Path” is getting closer to the point

Low public interest to the problem of nuclear power plant building in Belarus is explained with no visible solutions of this problem for Belarusan people.

This opinion shared to the EuroBelarus Information Service Iryna Sukhij, the chairperson of the board of Public Association “Eco House”.

“I believe that people reject to note the things they cannot influence. After Chernobyl tragedy at some point people ceased to think about the problem, as they can do nothing about it”, - told Iryna Sukhij.

One shouldn’t expect the increase of public attention to the nuclear power plant in Astravets as its building is approaching the finishing point, the ecologist believes.

“The closer we are to the finish of the construction, the more senseless the attention to this problem is. Of course, there are cases when nuclear power plants were built but never opened, as it was in Austria. However, the attention works out better at early stages”, - explained Iryna Sukhij.

“Chernobyl path”: closer to the point

Speaking about the “Chernobyl path” annual move that is to take place in Minsk today, on April 26, the chairperson of the board of Public Association “Eco House” has given positive evaluation of the fact that under the last three years this event is becoming oriented towards the problems of the nuclear power engineering. “Chernobyl path” is changing from the protest march to the topic it was devoted to in the beginning. And this is very important”, - noted the ecologist.

“When “Eco House” was participating in the organization committee of this move for the first time, the point was that nuclear power engineering is but normal, but Belarus shouldn’t build a nuclear power plant because of our political situation, or that we can build the station until it is a Russian one, as their technologies are unsafe. Many political players thought that way”, - told Iryna Sukhij.

She noted that gradually, they managed to explain to the political parties which are organizing “Chernobyl path” that not only Russian, but also French and Japanese nuclear power plant bears the risk of explosion.  The myth about the low cost of the energy produced at such plants was also discredited.

We need real actions, not populism

Recently opposition parties stated about the creation of the National ecologic committee which will be dealing with the problems of the environment on continuous basis, not only as a part of preparation to the “Chernobyl path”.

Iryna Sukhij says that for now it is hard to say whether this structure will be able to have some influence on the situation. “There is no doubt that the attention of the political parties is getting focused on the ecologic problems, - agreed the chairperson of “eco House”. – However, we don’t want it to be some opportunistic topic, as the environmental problems are important to people, and it is important for the politicians to undertake real actions”.