Serbia Greens Plan Anti-Nuclear Campaign

Zvezdan Kalmar, from the Centre for Ecology and Sustainable Development, said Serbia's involvement in the project in Bulgaria could have disastrous consequences for the environment and health.

"If Serbia buys a 5-per-cent share of the company, as they say, it will have to store 5 per cent of the nuclear waste," Kalmar told Balkan Insight, adding that the country has no capacity to store the toxic waste.

Serbia is interested in taking part in the construction of the Belene plant, Balkan Insight has learned from the Ministry of Energy and Mining, and is mulling the purchase of between 5 to 10 per cent of the shares.

A final decision will be taken after a feasibility study is completed. But the government believes gaining a share in the plant would be a good move, as Serbia may face problems in the next decades over electricity sources, as supplies of coal, gas and oil run short.

Kalmar said he had strong doubts about the planned use of Russian reactors in Belene, as the Russian reactors are known to have unresolved safety issues and have not been tested elsewhere in the world.

Kalmar also noted that a legal obligation on Serbia not to plan to build or build any power plants remained in force. A moratorium on building nuclear plants was introduced after the disaster at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986. The moratorium expires in 2015.

Environmental organisations say they will organise a street protest campaign including round tables around the country in order to engage the public in the issue of nuclear power and prevent the country from getting involved in the Belene project.

Aleksandra Knez Milojkovic, from the NGO Environmental Ambassadors in Serbia, said they would link up with environmental groups in Bulgaria to establish a regional network of activists.

On November 30, the Bulgarian power utility NEK and Russia's state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, signed a memorandum under which they will have four months to start the the 2,000 megawatt nuclear plant. Bulgaria's NEK will keep a majority stake of 51 per cent in the Belene company.