A meeting of the working group held at Ignalina NPP

On 3 January 2019 a meeting of the joint working group aimed at the discussion of issues related to the decommissioning of SE Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (Ignalina NPP) was held. The working group founded in 2016 consists of specialists of Ignalina NPP, Visaginas Municipality Administration, and representatives of Visaginas Public Council for energy and ecology.

The meeting was attended by the Director general of Ignalina NPP Audrius Kamienas, Decommissioning Director Sergej Krutovcov, head of communications Natalija Survila-Glebova, Visaginas mayor Dalia Štraupaitė, Director of municipality administration Sergej Mickevič, and representative of Visaginas Public Council for energy and ecology.

The main objective of the meeting was to discuss the relevancy of the activities of working group and opportunities for future cooperation, identify problems that make the work group ineffective.

The Director General of INPP highlighted that no one should have doubts about the necessity to ensure transparent and effective information of Visaginas society on the issues of concern. ‘Activities of the group substituting a helpful tool shall accelerate and facilitate decision-making in the INPP region, assist in efficient disclosure of all relevant issues related to the Ignalina NPP activities, its achievements and newly made decisions to the public and authorities of Visaginas municipality. If this form of cooperation is ineffective, it may be worth considering other ways of publicising information that will help ensure the dissemination of objective information to the widest possible audience. This must be a work for the common purpose, and the representatives of the public council, if they have tackle the representation of the interests of the public, must become the very tool that effectively informs the public about the processes that are important for the region in relation to the works carried out at the power plant’ – said A. Kamienas at the meeting.

Ignalina NPP Decommissioning Director Sergej Krutovcov identified cooperation problems occurred due to false information about processes carried out at Ignalina NPP periodically appearing in public space. ‘Ignalina NPP informs the public by all available ways – in 2018 Ignalina NPP held more than 240 visits, publishes information on the Website. Activities of the group was also deemed to be a publicity mechanism for disclosure and dissemination of relevant information. The main problem is that some representatives of the public council periodically spread false information about the processes and, thus cause negative moods in society and undermines the INPP image. Such a situation is totally unsatisfactory for us, and each party must feel responsible for its actions’ – said Decommissioning Director Sergej Krutovcov. As an example, he pointed out the recent misleading publication on the INPP works on the website of the public council, as well as the article published in November 2018 in the Nuclear Engineering International journal on the decommissioning of INPP providing the interview with one of the members of the public council who is involved in the work of the joint working group. In response to the findings of the INPP representatives, the public council members for energy and ecology have promised to analyse and evaluate the information provided.

Participants of the meeting agreed that cooperation of the joint working group is necessary to ensure effective and transparent public information about INPP decommissioning processes.

Such cooperation is possible only through constructive dialogue and cooperation when working together for the common purpose, so it was decided to propose new forms of cooperation and tools at the next meeting, which will help to avoid misinformation in the future.