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Greenpeace Takes Mochovce Complaints to Aarhus Committee
Tuesday 16 March 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, March 16 (TASR) - Greenpeace and other NGOs said on Tuesday that they would later in the day argue their case against Slovakia regarding the Completion of the Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant (Nitra region) before the United Nations Convention Compliance Aarhus Committee in Geneva.
Greenpeace spokesperson Lucia Szabova further told TASR that the NGOs accuse Slovakia of using a construction license for the completion of Mochovce's 3rd and 4th reactor blocks dating back to 1986 even after the Nuclear Supervision Office (UJD) gave the go-ahead to alterations to the project in 2008. They also claim that Slovakia has prevented the public from intervening in the procedure, which flies in the face of international pledges.
Slovakia is being represented by the Nuclear Supervision Office, electricity utility Slovenske Elektrarne, the Enviroment Ministry and mayors from the environs of the Mochovce plant.
The Aarhus Committee goes into session once in three months to discuss between one to three complaints that are deemed relevant on the grounds of suspected breaches of the Convention.
Committee decisions are legally binding with the highest international weight and may require that Slovakia corrects certain mistakes by restarting assessment and licensing procedures, for example.
In the worst case, Slovakia could be taken to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission or any member state.
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