On Wednesday activists formed a human chain across the 70-meter UN-controlled buffer zone in protest to Turkey’s plans to build a nuclear power plant only 56 miles (90 kilometers) from Cyprus’s northern shoreline, the AP has reported.
The planned Russian-made nuclear plant in Akkuyu was protested on the notable day which marks the 31st anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in the former USSR. Activist are speaking out against the plant, saying that the area where it is to be built straddles a seismic zone — making a nuclear spill or disaster a real concern.
Also, Turkish Cypriot activist Murat Kanatli commented that another concern is where and how the plant’s radioactive waster will be disposed. If the nuclear plant proceeds as planned, he said, the waters will heat up to temperatures that will harm aquatic life, according to studies conducted.
Other concerns revolve around the Turkish nuclear plant becoming a potential target for attacks as a result of the political instability in the region.
“This is as much a problem for Cyprus as well,” Kanatli told AP. “It’s impossible to have full safety.”
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