Conference Agenda

 

SUNDAY 23 APRIL 2006

15:00 – 15:30 Registration

16:00 – 16:15 20 Years after Chernobyl:
ASAD DO NOVOHO MYSLENNJA - BACK TO A NEW WAY OF THINKING

Welcome
Agnieszka Rochon– Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Office in Warsaw
Tetyana Murza – Ecoclub, Ukraine


16:15 – 19:00 Reflections on Chornobyl
The Chornobyl catastrophe made Europe smaller and more vulnerable. At the same time, the imagery of the tragedy can function as a source for future strength. If prudently considered, the events of April 26, 1986 may help to better compose the future.

A Reflection will lead us “Back to a New Way of Thinking”, featuring well-known artists from Ukraine and other European countries.

Halyna Stefanowa, artist from Kyiv, recites texts by the Belarussian writer Swetlana Alexijewitsch as well as poems written by the Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko that also inspired the composition of the requiem “Pripjat. Still Life” by Ukrainian Roman Hurko.


The meaning of the catastrophe of Chornobyl for the present and future is going to be reflected in a personal speech by Rebecca Harms, Green Member of the European Parliament.

A round table will follow with contributions by the Ukrainian writer and politician Vladimir Javorivsky, the Ukrainian journalist Maria Mycio as well as the American filmmaker Maryann De Leo (Chernobyl Heart).

Additionally, there will be the opening of two photo exhibitions: “Chernobyl – 20 years, 20 lives” by the Danish photographer Mads Eskesen, introduced by his wife Lilya and “Chornobyl today. Remembrance for the Future” by the Czech photographer Vaclav Vasku.

A reception with light refreshments will follow.

MONDAY 24 APRIL 2006

8:30-9:00 Registration

9:00-9:20 Welcome

- Ralf Fücks – Board of Directors of Heinrich Boell Foundation, Germany
- Tetyana Murza – Ecoclub, Ukraine
- Michael Mariotte – Nuclear Information and Resource Service, USA

9:20-10:00 Opening Speech

- Prof. Dimitry Hrodzinsky – National Commission on the radioactive protection of the people of Ukraine, Ukraine

- Renate Künast - Floor Leader, Alliance 90/The Greens, National Parliament, Germany

10:00-11:45 Panel I: CHORNOBYL HEALTH CONSEQUENCES

On September 5th 2005, the IAEA and WHO jointly released the report "Chornobyl's Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts" which stated inter alia: „As of mid-2005 … fewer than 50 deaths had been directly attributed to radiation from the disaster…..” The IAEA/WHO report sparked widespread censure from radiation experts in the region and the rest of the world who criticized the IAEA and WHO for underestimating the real consequences of the Chornobyl disaster. In reaction to the IAEA/WHO report, new independent studies were commissioned on the health and environmental consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe. The findings of these studies will be contained in an independent scientific report "The Other Report on Chernobyl" (TORCH), to be presented to this panel and the Conference. The TORCH report evaluates the environmental and health impacts of Chornobyl from the point of view of independent scientists, and comments on the many scientific limitations of the IAEA/WHO reports.

Speaker 1: Dr. Ian Fairlie, Independent Consultant on Radiation in the Environment (presentation of the study), United Kingdom

Speaker 2: Prof. Dimitry Hrodzinsky – National Commission on the radioactive protection of the people of Ukraine, Ukraine

Chair: Prof. Alexey Yablokov – Chairman of political party “Green Russia”, Russia

11:45-12:00 Coffee break

12:00-13:30 Workshops I

The Workshop I topics are organized according to the structure of the TORCH Project. The aim of the workshops is to analyze the specific issues beyond the analysis provided through the TORCH Project on the basis of a Keynote introductory overview and an additional topical presentation.

Workshop I A: Environmental Impact and Status of Reactor Site
How much radioactivity has been released during the accident? What are the environmental consequences? What is the status of the site, including the three other forgotten shut-down units and large amounts of spent fuel and wastes?

Speaker 1: Dr. Ed Lyman, Senior Staff Scientist in the Global Security programme, Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), USA

Speaker 2: John Large, Large and Associates, London

Chair: Dr. Gerald Kirchner, German Ministry for Radiation Protection, Germany

Workshop I B: Collective and Individual Dose Evaluations
How many people were and continue to be exposed to how much radiation? This includes internal and external exposure.

Speaker 1: Prof. Keith Baverstock, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Kuopio, Finland, formerly WHO, United Kingdom

Chair: Dr. Ian Fairlie, Independent Consultant on Radiation in the
Environment, United Kingdom

Workshop I C: General State of Health After Chornobyl
Is there a decline of the general health condition of the people, in particular in the areas severely affected by fallout but not evacuated?

Speaker 1: Dr. Angelika Nyagu, President of Physicians of Chernobyl

Speaker 2: Alex Kuzma, Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, Ukraine

Chair: Anna Golubovska-Onisimova – President, Mama 86, Ukraine

Workshop I D: Different Kinds of Cancer
What is the development pattern of the morbidity rates of thyroid cancer, leukemia and other cancer types?

Speaker 1: Dr. Carmel Mothersill, Research Chair, McMaster University, Canada.

Speaker 2: Prof. Wolfgang Köhnlein, Institute for Radiation Biology, Germany

Chair: Adi Roche, Chernobyl Children's Project International, Ireland

Workshop I E: Non-Cancer Effects
Forgotten dimensions: What is the development pattern of cardiovascular diseases and other non-cancer effects, hereditary effects, and psycho-social effects?

Speaker 1: Dr. Yury Bandazhevski, Honoris Causa Doctor of the Mediterranean University, Belarus

Speaker 2: Oksana Garnets, UNDP, Ukraine

Chair: Dr. Angelika Claussen, IPPNW, Germany

13:30 - 13:45 Presentation: Nuclear Problems in and around the Chernobyl Zone.
                      John Large, Large and Associates, London. Commissioned by                                   Greenpeace International.

13:45-15:00 Lunch Break (lunch provided at the conference venue)

15:00-16:30

Panel II: NUCLEAR ENERGY TODAY – “OPINIONS, MYTHS AND FACTS”
The nuclear industry and its supporters are increasingly confident that nuclear power has a future. Two reasons are used for the reconsideration of nuclear energy: security of suppy and climate concerns.

Which fundamental risks are inherent in the use of nuclear power (age, reprocessing, nuclear waste treatment, risk of terrorist attacks, possible proliferation)? Has the development of new technology increased security of nuclear power plants? Can the use of nuclear power actually ensure that nuclear technology can not be (ab)used for military purposes?

Speaker 1: Antony Froggatt: Global perspectives for nuclear power (including "nuclear reactor hazards?), Independent European Energy Consultant, United Kingdom

Speaker 2: John Large, Large and Associates, London
Advantages and weaknesses of reactor generations III and IV, United Kingdom

Speaker 3: Shaun Burnie, Greenpeace International: Dangers of nuclear reprocessing, nuclear waste and proliferation, UK

Speaker 4: Satu Hassi, Member of European Parliament, Finland

Chair: Tobias Muenchmeyer, Greenpeace, Germany

16:30-17:00 Coffee Break

17:00-18:00 Workshops II

Workshop II A: Nuclear Economics
Does the use of nuclear power contribute to a sustainable supply/security of energy as well as energy independence?

Speaker 1: Osgur Gurbuz, Turkish Greens (Yesiller), Turkey

Speaker 2: Steve Thomas, Senior Research Fellow at the Public Services International Research Unit, University of Greenwich, London, United kingdom

Chair: Scott Denman, Co-Director, Collaborations/Comprehensive Strategic Communications Services & Training

Workshop II B: Nuclear Wastes and Nuclear Reprocessing
Some nuclear waste will remain dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years. As a consequence, the public remains concerned, as do politicians, about the future of nuclear power. Consideration must be given to a number aspects of nuclear waste.

Speaker 1: Kevin Kamps, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, USA

Speaker 2: Sergiy Kurykin, Head of Public Collegium within State Committee for Nuclear Regulation, Ukraine

Speaker 3: Detlef Appel, PanGeo – Geowissenschaftliches Büro, Germany

Chair: Ivan Blokov, Greenpeace Russia, Russia

Workshop II C: Nuclear Proliferation

The threat of nuclear technology and know-how as subject for military and terrorist activity.

Speaker 1: Alexander Nikitin, Bellona, Russia

Speaker 2: Regina Hagen, International Network of Engineers and Scientists against Proliferation(INESAP), Germany

Speaker 3: Dr. Abdul Hameed Nayyar, SDPI, Pakistan

Chair: Reiner Braun, International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility, Germany

Workshop II D: Nuclear Power in Eastern Europe

Characteristics, recent debates and strategies for the region

Speaker 1: Ada Amon, Energia Klub (Budapest), Hungary

Speaker 2: Andriy Martynyuk, Director, Ecoclub, Ukraine

Speaker 3: Pavol Siroky, For Mother Earth (Za Matku Zem), Slovakia

Chair: Vladimir Slivyak, Ecodefense, Russia

Workshop II E: Sarcophagus and Shelter

Speaker 1: Volodymyr Usatenko, former member of the Ukrainian parliament, Ukraine

Speaker 2: Yury Urbansky, National Ecological Center of Ukraine

Speaker 3: Konstantin Checherov, senior scientist, Russian Scientific Center "Inctitute of Kurchatov"

Chair: Dr. Helmut Hirsch, Scientific Consultant for Nuclear Safety and Risk
Research

18:00-19:00 Break

19:00–20:30 Debate: Energy Policy Beyond Nuclear Ambitions: Linking Visions With Reality

In view of increasing oil prices, growing energy demand of upcoming industrial countries as well as the threat of climate change, the global discussion on energy policy intensified during the last months. In countries across the world, the debate on the extension of nuclear energy is being revitalised as can be seen not only in Eastern Europe, but also from EU-countries such as Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, and the U.S., China, India and elsewhere. Due to the economic agreement between Germany and Russia on the construction of a gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea (September 2005) and after the Russian-Ukrainian quarrel on gas delivery (beginning of this year) the nuclear lobby of the region was strengthened. Even in Ukraine, the country which suffered most from the consequences of the Chornobyl catastrophe, energy policy focuses on the extension of nuclear power. In May last year, the construction of eleven new nuclear reactors until 2030 was proposed and the early commissioning of the two reactors in Rivne and Khmelnytsky is planned.

In 1986, the Chornobyl catastrophe kicked off both the environmental and the democracy and independence movement in Ukraine. Paradoxically, in the context of energy dependency from Russia, low energy efficiency and the need to secure jobs and supplies, debates for alternative policies are yet to be rooted.

- How is energy-policy in Ukraine and other Eastern European countries characterized?
- Which significance does it have for democracy, transparency and political independency?
- Which frame conditions both in politics and society are necessary to initiate energy-policy alternatives?
- How can the EU, EU-member states and other nations influence and support policies towards alternatives?

Speakers 1: Volodymyr Usatenko, former member of the Ukrainian parliament, Ukraine

Speakers 2: Olga Milova, Institute for Energetics and Finances, Russia

Speakers 3: Mykola Karpan, leader of the expert programs of the Ukrainian Chornobyl Party.

Chair: Jens Siegert, Director of Heinrich Boell Foundation, Moscow office, Germany

 

TUESDAY 25 APRIL 2006

8:30-9:00 Registration

9:00-10:30

Panel III: Roadmap to a Sustainable Energy Future

Energy economics, security of supply as well as the risks of global warming and nuclear disasters represent the major orientation marks for a pathway towards a sustainable energy future. Renewable energy sources as well as energy efficiency will play major roles in strategies for a sustainable energy future. Which role does the world-wide development of renewable energy, as well as efficiency-strategies play? What examples for successful application of alternative strategies do exist? Which energy-strategies are discussed today in Eastern-European countries, specifically in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia? What impact do EU strategies have on it's member countries and neighbors? What examples for successful application of alternative strategies do exist and how can they be transferred to countries such as Ukraine?

Speaker 1: Denis Hayes, Earth Day Network, USA

Speaker 2: Dr. Reinhard Loske, Member of the German Bundestag, Alliance90/The Greens, Germany

Speaker 3: Stefan Kohler, German Energy Agency (DENA), Germany

Chair: Sascha Mueller Kraenner, Director for Europe and North America at the Heinrich Boll Foundation, Germany

10:30-11:00 Coffee Break

11:00-12:30 Workshops III

Workshop III A: Clean Energy Alternatives: Why Nuclear Power is no solution for tackling climate change

Speaker 1: Ilya Popov, Center for Nuclear Ecology and Energy Policy of the International Socio-Ecological Union in Moscow, Russia

Speaker 2: Dr. Klaus Illum, ECO Consult, Denmark

Chair: Michael Mariotte – Nuclear Information and Resource Service, USA

Workshop III B: Sustainable Energy Roadmap for Ukraine

Speaker 1: Andriy Konechenkov, Renewable Energy Agency, Ukraine

Speaker 2: Ken Bossong, Ukrainian-American Environmental, USA

Chair: Jorg Haas, Department Head Ecology and Sustainable Development of teh Heinrich Boll Foundation, Germany

Workshop III C: International potential of renewable energy and strategies for implementation

Speaker 1: Hans-Josef Fell, member of the German Bundestag, spokesperson on Energy Policy, Alliance 90/The Greens, Germany

Speaker 2: Ed Smeloff, Sharp Electronic Corporation, Former chief of San Francisco Public Utility Commission, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, USA

Chair: Steve Sawyer - Greenpeace International, Amsterdam

Workshop III D: Energy Efficiency

Speaker 1: Prof. Victoria Vereshchak, Dnepropetrovsk University, Ukraine

Speaker 2: Prof. dr. hab. Adam Gula, the AGH-University of Science and
Technology in Krakow, Faculty of Fuels and Energy, Poland

Chair: Peer de Rijk, World Information Service on Energy, Amsterdam

12:30-13:30 Concluding Discussion

- Ralf Fücks, Board of Directors of Heinrich Boell Foundation, Germany

- Rebecca Harms – Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA in the European Parliament, Germany

- Denis Hayes, national coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970, chairman of Earth Day Network, USA

- Anna Golubovska-Onisimova, President, Mama-86, Ukraine

13:30-15:00 Lunch break (lunch provided at the conference venue)

15:00-16:30

PARALLEL NGO-Networking Session Facilitation: Antony Froggatt & Michael Mariotte

15:00-16:30 PRESS CONFERENCE

16:30-16:45 Coffee

16:45-18:00 NGO-Networking Session Facilitation: Antony Froggatt & Michael Mariotte

Venue: House of Teachers, Volodymyrska 57, Kyiv Information: Tetyana Murza, tanyam@nirs.org, +380-97-595-2346 Conference languages: English, Ukrainian and Russian. All plenary sessions with simultaneous interpretation to all languages, workshop with standard interpretation.

Steering Committee: Agnieszka Rochon, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung-Warsaw, Tetyana Murza, Ecoclub, Michael Mariotte, NIRS, Peer de Rijk, WISE-Amsterdam, Rebecca Harms, The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament, Yury Urbansky, National Ecological Center of Ukraine, Anna Golubovska-Onisimova, Mama-86, Vladimir Slivyak, Ecodefence, Tobias Muenchmeyer, Greenpeace, Angelika Claussen, IPPNW