Dirty atom

The State Corporation "Rosatom" determined 30 sites in Russia , where it is planned to build radioactive waste burial points. Often a place for placing a nuclear burial ground is selected with violations - for example, it is located close to large cities, sometimes even in a seismic zone. Ecologists and residents protest, but there are forces that counteract the self -organization of residents, conduct information campaigns against them, spread rumors and outright lies. There is no doubt that these forces are interconnected and pursue a policy in the name of the interests of Rosatom.

The State Corporation "Rosatom" has not been a slow clumsy structure with which it is customary to associate state enterprises for a long time. Rosatom is trying to be a modern company and use the services of private agencies that support its image among the population. Rosatom needs such support, since the placement of nuclear and radioactive waste anywhere near the settlements automatically causes protests by local residents and civilian activists. In order to form public opinion, even methods are used to create entire organizations working for the state corporation.

Thus, ecologists from the pine boron (Leningrad region) claim that the attracted PR specialists of the Russian socio-political center provided Rosatom’s advertising campaign in 2012 in their city. The goal of the campaign, estimated at 17 million rubles, is to form positive public opinion in relation to the nuclear grave. For this purpose, the organization “Clean City” was created, “volunteers” at first asked the residents, whether they want nuclear waste to be stored in observance of increased safety, and then the municipal authorities represent 10,000 collected signatures as unconditional support by residents of the construction of the burial ground.

Thanks to the advertising campaign in 2012-2013, alternative points of view practically did not sound. Only in 2015, when the government of the country has already approved the territorial planning scheme, and the interdepartmental commission of the Government of the Leningrad Region decided to approve the place of construction, the situation began to change. More and more journalists, public organizations and residents began to seriously perceive more and more tangible danger.

The “Beautiful Leningrad Region” movement launched a petition against the construction of a platform for the burial of radioactive waste , which for several weeks sluggishly gained voices, and only after the next lost court, finally, people began to subscribe in mass quantities. Seeing a sharp dynamics, they realized in Rosatom: they published a press release according to which there are no plans for the construction of a nuclear burial ground, and those who affirm the opposite are simply “promoting”. True, the text had a small reservation: the project was suspended before investment assessment.

At the same moment, the opinions of various experts fell to order. One of these seedlings of “correct experts” is the center of energy examination , which with the most and main comments on the need for a burial ground. Another expert was Alexander Nikitin, the chairman of the Bellon environmental board, which stated: the term "nuclear burial ground" was invented to intimidate the population. At the same time, Nikitin added that the site is needed, since 110,000 cubic meters of nuclear waste have already accumulated in the pine forest. “Bellona” did not criticize Nikitin, but a week later on her website she supported the action near the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg to prevent the construction of the burial ground.

The representation of ecologists as NATO agents gives rise to a conflict situation between the state and civil society, removes responsibility from nuclear people for the care of the environment and human health

At the action itself, however, there were no scandal. Someone Maxim Rumyantsev, who introduced himself as the "creative special forces of the president", tried to blame individual environmental organizations of living on foreign grants and almost work for the CIA. Later, on its website, the Center for Free Journalism has posted the article “Grants on the betrayal of the Motherland?”, In which he made conclusions that NATO countries were financed by environmental organizations in Russia in order to inflict maximum damage to the country. For some reason, the homeland in this article is embodied for some reason not the inhabitants of Russia and not even the nature of the country, but the corporation "Rosatom".

Rumyantsev is a journalist with a rich geography. After just a couple of weeks, he was booed at public hearings in Zheleznogorsk, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. At these hearings, it was possible to approve the plan for building a burial ground, but at what cost? The real black information campaign was deployed against the chief activist in the fight against a nuclear burial ground in the Krasnoyarsk Territory Fedor Maryasov. For an amount of 400 rubles on social networks, posts were distributed against him. In personal messages, those who are in his “friends” came: Maryasov is working out the “order”, and the fate of the nuclear burial ground does not actually worry him. Despite everything, a lot of people came to the hearing, but the room selected for the meeting could not accommodate everyone, and in the hall there were faces with mandates for voting in advance. Therefore, part of the arrived was simply cut off from making a decision. After the "working day" of the verbal battles, the hall became slowly empty - and in the end the burial ground was approved.

He also achieves his goal with the help of "sociological surveys." Recently, by order of the Rosenergoatom concern , the Prospect of the Scientific and Technical Center conducted a survey on the attitude of the population of the regions of the presence of nuclear power plants to the development of nuclear energy. The survey paid by the atomic corporation showed that - compared to 2013 - from 43 to 57% in the Leningrad region and from 57 to 67% in the pine forest the number of people expressed for the active development of atomic energy. And this despite the fact that the level of protest in the northwest region is the highest for all the time. The number of the “beautiful Leningrad region” signed against the construction of the burial ground has already reached 49,000 people.

I have no doubt that all these structures and individual people are connected by one thread with the Rosatom corporation and fulfill its order. The scope with which the company operates is simply amazing: the creation of organizations, institutions, centers, subsidizing journalists, paying work on social networks, conspiracy with representatives of executive and legislative power. Only one thing is missing - a human attitude to people living in our country.

The principle of “right is the one who is stronger”, which professes the leadership of Rosatom, fits well into Russian reality, but does not comply with the norms of behavior in a civilized society. The representation of ecologists as NATO agents gives rise to a conflict situation between the state and civil society, removes responsibility from nuclear people for the care of the environment and human health.

Anatoly Kanyukov-St. Petersburg politician, Social Democrat