Organization: National Capital Freenet, Ottawa, Canada
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 23:49:46 GMT
Lines: 33
I have sat on a number of delegations/working groups dealing with Eastern
European countries dealing with energy in general and in some cases
electricity/nuclear in particular. The situation in many of these countries
from a nuclear power perspective is indeed serious. Essentially, the type
of safety regime we enjoy in the West was not there in the East European countries. As I am sure many of the readers of this conference are aware, there are
many countries trying to help out. This help is being formalized through what
is known as the Energy Charter.
A major dilemma is the problem of being able to ensure adequate power supplies
by keeping some of the nuclear stations operating until they are closed down
and other options are delivered. By keeping these stations operating, the fear
is that the officials involved will claim that they still need a couple more years of operation. In other words, the West may be involved in maintaining unsafe
reactors in operation.
One project involved a study of electricity options for a specific country.
The government wanted to enact legislation that would take into account
environmental considerations and involve public consultations. It was a
most interesting exercise as the country involved had virtually no citizen
groups to involve. While the citizens are becoming more involved, they are
not yet quite this organized. Canada was approached to help because of
the degree to which we consult (over consult).
How things evolve in Eastern Europe will be most interesting. It is a shame
that some of these citizens cannot hook up to discussion groups such as this
one. Is there anything we can do, perhaps donate computers, modems, etc.
