NEW NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS WORRY GEORGIAN GREENS
By M. Alkhazashvili
Translated by Diana Dundua

The Messenger, Georgia
Oct 4 2006

Russia’s Federal Atomic Agency, or RosAtom, has decided to build a
nuclear power station in the south of Russia, said RosAtom Director,
Sergei Kirienko, at a press conference on September 28. The new nuclear
power station will serve the Russian North Caucasus republics and the
Krasnodar region will be located close to the Georgia-Russian border.

Chairman of the Georgian Green Party, Giorgi Gachechiladze, suggests
that Russia’s decision to construct a new nuclear power station
could be an attempt to make them less reliant on oil and natural gas,
freeing more of their reserve. This way, he asserts, more supply is
available to export and they can continue to influence Eastern and
Central Europe, which relies on their energy resources.

The Turkish government have also recently announced plans to build
an atomic plant in the vicinity of Georgia’s borders in the port of
Sinop. According to Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
construction will begin this year and the plant will be finished
by 2012.

A Soviet-era nuclear power plant is located 100 kilometres south of
the Georgian border in Metsamor, Armenia. Georgia could soon have
nuclear power stations surrounding it on all sides.

Furthermore, Georgia has recently been mulling over the possibility
of building its own nuclear power station. The possibility was very
publicly discussed by Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze and the
president’s economic adviser Mart Laar recently.

Gachechiladze claims Georgia’s hydro electric potential could generate
80 million megawatts of power, so it won’t be easy to justify building
a nuclear power station in Georgia.