Oleg Bodrov, physicist, environmentalist,

Interregional Movement GREEN WORLD, St. Petersburg – Leningrad Oblast, Russia

Phone/fax +7 81369 72991, mob. +7 921 74 52 631, e-mail: www.greenworld.org.ru www.decomatom.org.ru

The Baltic region is divided by confrontation of the EU and Russia. There is a militarization of consciousness on both sides of the political opposition. There is an increase in the risk of the use of military force.

There is a “nuclear power polarization” in the Baltic region:

• There is de-nuclearization, that is, promotion of energy saving and renewable energy in the western part of the Region e.g. Sweden, Germany;
• In the East of the Baltic region construction of 9 nuclear power units (Russia, Belarus, Finland) has begun; about half of the energy that is supposed to be exported to countries that refuse from nuclear electricity.

The construction of these nuclear power plants (Russian design) is supported and financed by Russia.

To provide fresh nuclear fuel, the management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste of nuclear power plants being built by Russia is planned for use in “closed nuclear towns” (ZATO), created in the period of “Cold War” for the production of nuclear weapons. There were poor social and environmental conditions around the ZATOs in Ural and Siberia.

Consumers of “cheap nuclear electricity” generated in the east of the Baltic region will actually invest in the restoration of Russian ZATOs – the military infrastructure of Russia.

Closed nuclear towns – are “social and technological islands” without transparency, democracy and human rights violations. It can not only worsen the situation of Russian citizens around these cities, but also reinforce the militarization of consciousness and confrontation in the Baltic region.

The import of nuclear electricity on the part of the Baltic Region countries from the eastern part will obstruct energy saving, renewable energy, and increase the risks of further radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea – the most radioactively polluted sea in our planet.

Necessary steps to unite the east and west of the Baltic region are reducing the degree of confrontation of Russia and the EU, and harmonization of relations closed nuclear cities and regions of their location.

An international conference with the theme “Our Common Habitat” could be a step towards de-confrontation, de-militarization, the development of common safety and security standards, and sustainable development in the Baltic region.

For the first time such a conference called “Our Common Environment” was organized by Finland and Russia in St. Petersburg in 1992.

It is time to repeat the positive experience of co-development for all countries in the Baltic Sea – Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Russia.

The content of such a conference may be themes such us environment, energy, music, cultural and artistic traditions.

The venue for such a conference could be Finland. Politicians and public figures with whom I spoke in Finland, St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, supported this idea.

I believe that 2016 could be a turning from confrontation to cooperation for effective conservation of Baltic Region – Our Common Habitat.

Oleg Bodrov is an engineer-physicist and ecologist. After graduating from the Department of Physics-Mechanics of Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (1976), he worked as an engineer on the test reactor units of nuclear submarines in the Aleksandrov Research Technological Institute (Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad Oblast, Russia).

From 1980 to 1993 he was a researcher and head of group in the Regional Environmental Laboratory of the Khlopin Radium Institute (St. Petersburg – Sosnovy Bor).

Oleg Bodrov was one of the founders and is chairperson of NGO Green World (GW), 1988. He was elected to GW Council Chairperson in 1989-1990 and from 1997 to the present time.

He is the author of a monograph, dozens of scientific, social & political articles, ten video-documentaries on decommissioning nuclear power plants in Lithuania, Sweden, Germany, U.S.A., as well as on the management of the nuclear and radioactive waste in Russia.

He has served as an expert witness in several environmental impact assessments.

Oleg Bodrov is one of the initiators of the international project for the comprehensive study of world experience for safe decommissioning of nuclear power plants. He has organized the study tours with the representatives from the of Russian authorities, nuclear industry experts and the public to the decommissioned nuclear power plants Greifswald (Germany), Ignalina (Lithuania), Maine Yankee (U.S.A.), as well as future decommissioning site of Vermont Yankee (U.S.A.) and burial sites of radioactive waste in Sweden and Finland.

Oleg Bodrov has participated in numerous conferences, round table discussions about nuclear safety, decommissioning of NPPs, and disarmament in Russia, EU, USA and Japan. He is a producer more 10 video-documentaries about different aspects of nuclear safety. The documentaries translated into English, German and Japan.

Oleg Bodrov received awards from international organizations for the Protection Baltic Sea Environment (Aland Islands, Finland, 2000), the 2010 Nuclear Free Future Education Award (NY, U.S.A., 2010), the Certificate of Honour of Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (Washington D.C., 2012), and medal For the Protection of Nature of Russia (Moscow, 2015).