‘Our experts are going to monitor every stage of launching the dry ash handling system in Reftinskaya power plant in order to protect the locals’ interests as well as the region’s energy security,’ Sverdlovsk Region Minister for Energy and Communal Housing Services Yuri Shevelev announced at an ad hoc meeting.

Reftinskaya (Enel OGK-5) claims switching to dry ash handling will ease the strain on the air and water pools the plant has been using.

However, the representatives of the International Socio-Environmental Union and Reftinskiy Environmental Safety Center insist that the public hearings on the issue were not properly organized, which therefore infringed upon the local dwellers’ rights. The greens are convinced the new system will result in deforestation and great detriment to all kinds of vegetation within ten to fifteen kilometers of the ash dump. The system will also be health-threatening, so the environmentalists have already placed an application with the public prosecution authorities and Rospotrebnadzor in order to start negotiating with the power plant’s representatives.