Environmentalists in Armenia are opposing a uranium mine project, the development of which has been linked to the upcoming overhaul of the Metsamor power station.
Carrying photos of animals and children, mutilated by exposure to uranium, roughly 3,000 protestors gathered November 11 in the central square of the town of Kapan, some 350 kilometers to the south of Yerevan, calling for the suspension of the mine project.
A petition drive has already gathered roughly 11,000 signatures in support of halting development of the mine, claimed Khoren Harutiunian, chairperson of a Karabakh war veterans committee that opposes the project. “People are very indignant about this. They all joined us,” Harutiunian recounted. “We don’t need uranium mines. We don’t want either to open the mines or endanger the fate of future generations.”
Added one local protestor, 43-year-old Kapan resident Armine Nahapetian: “If uranium extraction starts, we can say our region would be wiped off the map.”
The mine project near Kapan, situated in the metals mining region of Syunik, has been the target of protests for the past two years. Although the mine, owned by an Armenian-Russian Mining Company, was slotted to start operations this year,so far only one borehole has been dug at the site to prospect for deposits.
Unknown arsonists have already taken steps to try and prevent further drilling; some of the equipment brought in for constructing boreholes was burned on October 29. Meanwhile, representatives of the opposition Heritage Party have stated that they plan to file a lawsuit against the government to stop the extraction project, which it claims is the result of “an illegal decision.”
“The public has not participated properly in this process, in public hearings and discussions,” argued Heritage Party attorney Zaruhi Postanjian. “We’ll turn to all state and international bodies, up to PACE [the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe]” to stop the project, he continued.
A group of non-governmental organizations on November 10 sent a letter to President Serzh Sargsyan calling for the project’s suspension on health and environmental grounds and to defuse popular “tensions” surrounding the mine.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisian contends that protestors have put the cart before the horse; mining for uranium has not yet begun, he underlined. “First, we need to see whether we have that uranium or not, how large the deposits are, whether they have commercial significance or not,” Movsisian told Tert.am. “It’s not just uranium that is being studied; other metals are also being surveyed in parallel.”
A large-scale study of the area was carried out during the Soviet era, but mining operations never commenced since larger deposits were readily available in other former Soviet republics. Estimates put the potential size of Armenia’s uranium deposits at between 10,000 to 60,000 tons.
The head of the ongoing geological survey of Armenia's uranium deposits, geochemist Sergei Grigorian, concedes that the survey has shown that the area around the planned mine is “uranium-contaminated,” but maintains that there is no reason for residents to be alarmed. Information will be provided to local farmers to help them understand where the areas lie so that they “do not plant wheat and vegetables” there, he said.
Such statements do not reassure everyone. Stepan Petrosian, head of the village Lernadzor, closest to the mine project, says local farmers are wary of such statements amid a confusing barrage of information about the mine. “If they start mining, you can be sure nobody will stay in the village because nobody wants to give birth to children with defects and problems,” said Petrosian.
“This project can have just disastrous consequences,” agreed Hakob Sanasarian, chairperson of the Greens' Union of Armenia.
Geochemist Grigorian countered that Armenia’s need for uranium cannot be ignored. “Given that we are constructing a new nuclear power station, we need uranium, and new technologies allow for uranium extraction without polluting the environment,” he said. “We should weigh everything carefully before undertaking such measures” as protests.
Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance journalist based in Yerevan.
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