RUSSIA

Tuesday, December 10, 1996

Nuclear plant rejected by voters

By ROBYN DIXON, Herald Correspondent in Moscow

Plans to finish building a nuclear power station on the Volga River may have to be shelved because of a local referendum rejecting the project. Voters in the region of Kostroma, 370 kilometres north-east of Moscow yesterday voted in a referendum on the nuclear power station.

The final results had not been announced, but preliminary ones indicated 80 per cent had rejected it.

The referendum, held on the same day as elections for the local governor, was the first binding vote of its kind in Russia. All the candidates in the election, including the communist-backed winner, Mr Victor Shershunov, have promised they will accept the results of the referendum.

The historic town of Kostroma is one of the famous "golden ring" communities located on the Volga River. Environmentalists protested against the proposed power station because of fears it would pollute the river.

Construction on the power station began 15 years ago, but when the Chernobyl nuclear plant blew up building was halted.

In recent years authorities have been trying to get the project back on track. Local authorities promised it would create 20,000 jobs in the region and provide cheap energy.

However, local environmentalists collected 4,000 signatures and forced a referendum.

Fifty-eight per cent turned out in the referendum, well over the 50 per cent required to validate the vote.

Popular pressure on environmental issues began in the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s under the glasnost policy of the then leader, Mr Mikhail Gorbachev.

But in recent years the influence of the green movement has waned as powerful industrial and financial groups have emerged to drive Russia's political agenda.

In local elections around Russia, few of the incumbents - who all were loyal Yeltsin appointees - have held their jobs. The presidential administration said that while few of its preferred candidates had won, few of the communist-backed candidates had won, either.

The administration has been trying to get the new regional leaders on side, including the former deputy president, General Alexander Rutskoi, recently elected as governor.

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