A green experiment for Chornobyl

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the implementation of alternative energy projects in the Chornobyl Power Plant Zone of Alienation. This is confirmed by governmental instruction No.535-r “Concept of Public Policy in the Development of Activity in Certain Zones of Radioactive Contamination Due to the Chornobyl Disaster” of July 18, 2012. The document proposes to allow the construction of photovoltaic power stations and wind farms in this area. Besides, it allows to build timber incinerators, grow biofuel crops (rape, fast-growing willow, etc.), and deploy facilities for their processing.

As a reminder: according to the data provided by Mykola Pashkevych, chairman of the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Conservation, an investment of nearly a billion euros is expected in the alternative (wind and solar) energy projects in 2012. This year windmills with a total capacity of 252 MW and photovoltaic stations with a total capacity of 290 MW are to be launched in the country. Overall, Ukraine has 76 active hydroelectric power stations, 11 wind farms, 18 photovoltaic power stations, and 2 bioenergy facilities.

The Day addressed a question of sustainability and environmental safety of such measures to experts.

“This zone should be reanimated. If it may not be used for agricultural production, then renewables should be the answer. It is a perfect option for implementing infrastructure projects in this region,” said Vitalii DAVII, president, the Association of Alternative Fuels and Energy Market Participants, Ukraine. He believes there is a potential for the production of several hundred megawatts. The construction of one megawatt of a photovoltaic power station costs two million euros. And 200 megawatt demands 400-450 million euros, continues Davii. He is convinced that there will be those willing to invest in alternative energy in Chornobyl. In 2006-07 firms, involved in the production of bio-diesel, were displaying interest in the Chornobyl zone. There also were offers to grow rape for engine biofuel. But those projects were nipped in the bud, since the main thing was absent, the permission to work in the alienation zone.

Now this obstruction has been removed, continues Serhii YERMOLOV, former chairman of the National Agency for Efficient Use of Energy Resources, ex-minister of fuel and energy. “In general, the conception is correct. The wind and the sun will never harm the environment; on the contrary, they must be used. On the other hand, the production of biofuel and its further processing in Chornobyl are impossible without intensified radiation control,” shared Yermolov in his interview to The Day. According to him, government need not invest a single cent in such project, since they are lucrative. There is a feed-in tariff, which can be a sufficient incentive for the development of alternative energy through private business.

Olena RYBAK, director, Europe-Ukraine Energy Agency (EUEA), believes that the lands, unfit for agricultural production, should be used for the development of alternative energy. She predicts the rise of first pilot “green” projects in Chornobyl, as soon as the green window procedure is implemented, and such companies get support. Biofuel crops can be grown in several areas of the Chornobyl zone. But the crops must pass a thorough quality control, to eliminate the risk of radioactive contamination in the process of incineration.

Loic Lerminiaux, expert on the alternative energy market, notes that an up-to-date smoke filtration system at such facilities will prevent radionuclides from being released into the atmosphere. Generally speaking, he assessed this direction as promising. Lerminiaux believes that using half of the zone’s area under biofuel crops will provide an energy equivalent to 0.8 billion cubic meters of gas.

Ecologists have their own opinion of alternative energy projects in the Chornobyl alienation zone. “From the viewpoint of environmental safety, the development of solar and wind energy in Chornobyl and the alienation zone could prove efficient. The deployment of solar panels and windmills does not involve considerable labor, while there are ample areas for the development of this sector,” said Tetiana TYMOCHKO, president of the Ukraine-wide Ecological League. That is why it is possible to produce considerable amounts of energy, emphasized Tymochko. Besides, solar and wind energy will not essentially alter the landscape, and will not require a lot of people and transport.

But when it comes to growing biofuel crops (such as rape or fast-growing willow) on the territory of the Chornobyl zone, it is absolutely inacceptable, believes Tymochko. “This is related to extensive farming and involves large numbers of people to tend the crops. The farmers, who are going to work on this land, could suffer irreparable damage without serious scientific research and ecological surveillance and identification of the prospective farmland. Ecological surveillance and identification will reveal the actual state of the Chornobyl territory. Today no one knows for sure the level of radioactive contamination in certain areas of the alienation zone.”

Yet even if such research is held, growing crops on this territory is out of the question, continued Tymochko. “Firstly, farming involves people, who will be exposed to radioactive contamination, which means direct damage to their health. Secondly, the crops, grown on contaminated soils, become the source of contamination. Today, we have no technology which would completely block the release of radioactive particles into the atmosphere during the incineration of such plants.”

“The employment of renewables in the Chornobyl alienation zone (in particular, wind and solar energy) is possible after the examination of the area’s potential. Meanwhile, the problem of developing bioenergy requires a thorough examination on the part of relevant academic and ecological institutions. In this case the matters of safety and population’s health should come first,” echoes Serhii DUBOVYK, deputy chairman, the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Conservation. But so far the country only has a concept which only describes the possibility of using renewables and alternative fuels in the exclusion zone. “Concrete technologies or projects are not being discussed yet. Should a specific plan suggesting these matters appear, the Agency will join in their discussion and detailed analysis,” promised Dubovyk.

Thus Ukraine is still on its way to the treatment of radioactively contaminated areas. Meanwhile, the world knows examples of solutions to this problem. Thus, Belarus has returned one-third of the radioactively contaminated farm lands to production, after subjecting them to costly decontamination programs. “Rough estimates show that up to 50 percent out of the 260,000 hectares of contaminated soils in the alienation zone could be used for growing biofuel crops. This, in turn, might provide 200 MW electricity, which would allow to supply 400,000 households, or provide the equivalent of power produced by one block of a small-sized nuclear power plant (500 MW),” reads the EUEA press release.