Earthquake in North Bulgaria -
NGO demands RWE to step out of Bulgarian Belenenuclear project
In the evening of 25 April, the region around the planned nuclear power stationBelene in North Bulgaria was shaken by an earthquake of 5,3 on the Richter scale. According to the Sofia News Agency, panic broke out in several places. In the towns of Svishtov andNikopol, only several kilometers from site of the planned nuclear power station, people left theirhouses and stayed out for over an hour.
The epicentre of the quake was situated in the Vranchaarea in Romania. This was also the origin of the large earthquake in 1977 that killed 120 peoplein Svishtov and damaged 2/3 of the buildings in the town.
"The seismic risks of the site are well known for a long time - building anuclear power station here should never have been allowed in the first place," said theBulgarian environmentalist and Goldman Environmental Award winner Albena Simeonova, who has an organic farmnear Belene.
"Yesterday's earthquake is a new warning to RWE. The company should withdraw immediately from this project. Otherwise Bulgaria could become the site of anew Chernobyl," said Simeonova.
On the shareholdersmeeting on 22 April, RWE CEO Jürgen Großmann for the firsttime announced the company will do seismic studies to the site. "This documents the complete incompetence of the company," comments Heffa Schücking, director of the environmental and human rights organisation urgewald.
"Seismic studies should be done at thestart of the project and not at the end of the planning process," and she explained, that thedesign of a nuclear power plant is tailor made for the location. That is not only for the base, butalso for the vulnerable inner parts of the reactors. In the case of Belene, the detaileddesign by the Russian nuclear constructor is already ready and the licencing procedure in Buglaria isalready in full swing.
"These studies would come far too late and the results have to beconsidered therefore pre-determined. From our point of view, this is a simple PR stunt to silenceconcerned shareholders and members in the Supervisory Board," according toSchücking.
RWE is under increasing pressure, not only from environmental organisations. On the shareholders meeting several large shareholders criticised the Belene project.
For example, the representative of the Union Investment Group, holding 4,5 Million RWE shares,said: "Participation in this power station is irresponsible [...] That the RWEmanagement allows itself to be linked with this ticking time-bomb is incomprehensible.
"Also the Dutch province of Brabant has a critical view. It is currentlyblocking the sale of the Dutch utility Essent to RWE. In the 12 hour debate in the Brabant provincialparliament last Friday, Belene was mentioned several times as example of the irresponsibleinvestment policies of RWE.
Over the last weeks, also communal politicians from Essen, Dortmund andMülheim spoke out during public meetings against the investment plans of RWE in Belene.
Urgewald and other environmental organisations demand RWE to withdraw directlyfrom planned nuclear power projects in seismic active areas in Bulgaria and Romania.
"Nuclear power stations have no place in earthquake zones. An increasing amount ofshareholders of RWE also see it that way," Schücking said.
CONTACT: Heffa Schücking, heffa@urgewald.de, +49.160 967 614 36 Albena Simeonova, +359.888 215 268
