On April 14, in Lutsk, as part of the western Ukrainian tour "Renewable Sources and Energy Conservation Will Stop Nuclear Energy Forever!", an action dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Chornobyl tragedy and aimed against the government's nuclear policy took place.
Tour participants organized an information action on Theater Square in Lutsk, and also held a "round table" at the city press club of reforms with the participation of representatives of environmental public organizations of Lutsk and Rivne, the state department of ecology and natural resources, scientists and journalists.
As noted by the editor-in-chief of the bulletin "Nuclear Monitor" (Rivne) Olha Liashchuk, the eco-tour, which started on April 13 in the city of Rivne and will end on April 22 in the city of Kyiv, was initiated by the Rivne youth organization "EcoClub" and is being conducted through the cities of Western Ukraine with the support of environmental organizations of Ukraine. Action participants are collecting citizens' signatures against the government's nuclear strategy, and also hope to collect 1 million signatures of Europeans and submit them to the European Commission.
Such actions by environmental public enthusiasts are prompted by the approval by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on March 15, 2006 of the draft Energy Strategy of Ukraine for the period until 2030 developed by the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine, according to which 22 new nuclear units will be built.
According to the head of the council of the Rivne city youth organization "EcoClub" Andrii Martyniuk, when adopting such a decision, no one was interested in the opinion of citizens. Environmental public organizations of Ukraine propose turning to alternative types of energy – thermal, wind and hydroelectric power stations, but first of all – to pay attention to energy conservation and biofuel.
The head of the Department of Solid State Physics of Lesya Ukrainka Volyn State University, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, full member of the New York Academy of Sciences Heorhii Davydiuk is convinced that Ukrainians should not abandon nuclear energy, since this is both an economic and a political issue.
However, the adopted Energy Strategy must be revised, since it is impossible to build 22 power units in Ukraine due to the geophysical properties of the soils. Today Ukraine must provide nuclear power plants with fuel of its own production (by enriching uranium not in Russia, but on its own territory) and consider options for purchasing nuclear fuel in other countries, for example, America.
The professor also believes that modern technologies need to be improved for the purpose of energy conservation, and also that it is necessary to learn to use non-traditional energy sources, namely – ecologically safe hydrogen energy, whose emissions are only steam.