English

Local old-timers uptight about nuclear power plant project

 

Elderly persons living in desolate tiny villages near the construction site for Belarus’ first nuclear power plant in the Astravets district, Hrodna region, are apprehensive about the project.

“I fear they may do a bad thing to people,” says Yanina, a 75-year-old resident of Shulniki.

Her neighbor of the same age, Teresa, says that only some 30 people still live in the village, half of the houses stand empty and there are almost no young people among the residents.

The same situation is in the nearby village of Valeykuny.

“Authorities promised locals would have highly paid jobs because of the construction of the plant, but it turns out they don’t need locals,” says Vikentsiy, a resident of Valeykuny. “Trucks were brought here and drivers arrived with them. Actually, there are few working-age people here.”

Hanna, a resident of Shulniki, says that the construction project will hardly improve her life. “There are clouds of dust and sand, which get into the house through windows,” she says.

However, she, like Teresa and Yanina, praises Alyaksandr Lukashenka, describing him as a fair man.

Unlike the women, Vikentsiy does not praise the Belarusian leader and is certain that the nuclear power plant project will change the locals’ life for the worse. “This is like putting a bomb under your bed,” he says. //BelaPAN