CYIL Vol. 7, 2016

CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ DO THE EUROPEANS HAVE THE RIGHT TO GET INFORMATION ABOUT… 2. The Right to Get Information about the Construction of a Nuclear Power Plant in Ostrovets, Belarus The first, preliminary information about Belarus’ plans to construct a nuclear power plant (hereinafter – NPP) in the Ostrovets area appeared in the media in 2006–2008. The site for the NPP was selected in 2008, and the preparatory work on the infrastructure started in January 2009. Lithuania was informed officially for the first time about the plans to build a NPP in 15 July 2008, but the required information was provided in August 2009 with the preliminary environmental impact assessment (hereinafter – EIA) documentation. 32 In 2 March 2010 Belarusian authorities organised a hearing on the Ostrovets NPP EIA documentation, but more than 80 persons attending the meeting did not get proper answers to the questions they had due to a lack of translation and the inability of the Belarusian authorities to answer the questions posed. 33 On 15 September 2011 the President of the Republic of Belarus issued a decree approving the Ostrovets site for the construction of the NPP. 34 On 9 August 2012 the symbolic time-capsule laying ceremony, which meant the commencement of the construction of the NPP, was held with the participation of the President of the Republic of Belarus. 35 Regarding the EIA documentation, it can be noted that at first the preliminary version of the EIA documentation was provided to Lithuania in August 2009; but later it became known that Belarus had drawn up an EIA report which was four times as voluminous, and was made publicly available on 4 March 2010, but it was not mentioned to the Lithuanian authorities until 18 June 2010. Furthermore, the full report was available for some time only in Minsk without any possibility to make copies. These and other actions of Belarusian authorities will be evaluated in the light of international legal rules providing the right to information applicable to the present situation: the Convention on Nuclear Safety, the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, and the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.

32 The Ministry of the Environment of the Republic of Lithuania, Submission of the Republic of Lithuania Requesting to Investigate the Compliance of the Republic of Belarus with the Provisions of the Aarhus Convention in the Course of the Implementation f the Project for the Construction of a Nuclear Power Plant in Belarus (Submission to the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention, 25 March 2015) 1. 33 Ibid . 34 Belarus had indicated previously three possible sites for the construction of NPP – that is, Krasnaya Polyana site (Bykhov area), the Kukshinovo site (Shklow-Gorky area) and the Ostrovets site (Ostrovets area). 35 Submission of Lithuania (supra n 32) 5.

365