Malta should ask for immediate info from Italian government on nuclear plans – AD

Published on Monday, 21, September, 2009 at 16:57 in Malta News | No Comments

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According to a ‘secret list’ of ten possible sites leaked to Italian paper Metro, the localities of Palma and Termini Imerese in Sicily are included as possible sites for the construction of a nuclear power station in Sicily.

Arnold Cassola, AD Chairperson, stated, “It would seem that the Sicilian Governor Lombardo has already given the go ahead for the siting of a nuclear plant in Sicily. The Maltese government should wake up from its slumber and ask Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi and Sicilian Governor Lombardo to inform the Maltese authorities immediately of what is happening.”

Carmel Cacopardo AD Spokesman on Sustainable Development and Local Government stated that AD had already in Summer 2008 drawn attention to discussions between the Maltese and Italian Prime Ministers on nuclear issues. Then the Maltese Government had denied reports published in Il Sole 24 Ore about a Berlusconi proposal to site a nuclear power station in Malta.

The Espoo Convention (Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context)incorporated in the Environmental Impact Assessment laws of the European Union, added Carmel Cacopardo, obliges the Italian Government to carry out consultations not just with the Government of Malta but also with the Maltese public through a public hearing on the contents of an Environmental Impact Assessment. The transboundary impacts of a nuclear power station around 200 km away from our shores can be substantial. It therefore needs to be ensured that all impacts are thoroughly examined in the EIA which eventually will have to be made available for the public’s information and consideration.

It is hoped, concluded Arnold Cassola, that the Maltese Government will take the diplomatic initiative to ensure that Malta’s interests are protected.

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