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Kultuuriministeerium Maaeluministeerium 17.02.2023 nr 6-3/22/4181-16 Poola tuumaelektrijaama projekti piiriülene keskkonnamõju hindamine Piiriülese keskkonnamõju hindamise konventsiooni (Espoo konventsiooni) alusel osaleb Eesti projekti, mis hõlmab Poola esimese kuni 3750 MWe võimsusega tuumaelektrijaama ehitamist ning käitamist Choczewo või Gniewino ja Krokowa omavalitsusüksuste territooriumil, menetluses. Poola edastas Eestile 2022. a sügisel arendaja Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe Sp. z o.o. keskkonnamõju hindamise (KMH) materjalid ning Keskkonnaministeerium korraldas nende avaliku väljapaneku. Keskkonnaministeerium saatis Poolale vastuse 8.12.2022 kirjaga nr 6-3/22/4181-121. Vastusele oli lisatud avaliku väljapaneku käigus esitatud seisukohad, mis sisaldasid ettepanekuid või märkuseid KMH materjalide kohta. Sellele järgnevalt saatis Poola Keskkonnaministeeriumile arendaja vastused Kultuuriministeeriumi ja Maaeluministeeriumi seisukohtadele, mille edastame infoks. Juhul, kui soovite esitada täiendavaid märkusi seoses arendaja vastustega, siis lähtuvalt Poola määratud vastamistähtajast, palume need saata Keskkonnaministeeriumile 1. märtsiks 2023. Lugupidamisega (allkirjastatud digitaalselt) Kaupo Heinma Asekantsler Lisa: arendaja vastused Rainer Persidski, 626 2973 [email protected] 1 https://adr.envir.ee/et/document.html?id=bf55da57-ff41-425b-9a56-843a7ea1b763 Paldiski mnt 96/ Tallinn 13522/ 626 2802/ [email protected]/ www.envir.ee/ Registrikood 70001231  INVESTOR’S STATEMENT FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE TRANSBOUNDARY ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT for the project consisting in the construction and operation of the first Nuclear Power Plant in Poland with a capacity of up to 3,750 MWe, in the territory of the following communes: Choczewo, or Gniewino and Krokowa Investor’s responses to the position of Estonia of 8 December 2022, ref. no. 6-3/22/4181-12, forwarded by the Ministry of the Environment of the Republic of Estonia with regard to the EIA Report submitted on 16 September 2022 Date: 7 February 2023 February 2023 Investor’s statement on Estonia’s comments made to the transboundary impact documentation EN In response to the letter of the Affected State – Estonia of 8 December 2022, ref. no. 6- 3/22/4181-12, regarding consultations conducted under Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context drawn up in Espoo on 25 February 1991 (“Espoo Convention”) as part of the transboundary environmental impact assessment for the Project consisting in the construction and operation of the first Nuclear Power Plant in Poland with a capacity of up to 3,750 MWe, in the territory of the following communes: Choczewo, or Gniewino and Krokowa, please find below our position and clarification regarding the comments raised by the Ministry of Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Estonia. We also suggest that further clarifications, if any, be made in English, which will allow to minimize potential doubts arising from the translation of the specialist terminology used in the documentation reviewed. 1) The Ministry of Rural Affairs (Maaeluministeerium) has analysed the transboundary assessment of the environmental impact of the Polish nuclear power plant project, sent by the Ministry of the Environment. With respect to the strategic environmental impact assessment, the Ministry of Rural Affairs notes that in the English version, in Part 6 titled “Extract from Volume IV of the EIA Report — Impact Assessment”, the impact on fisheries is indicated as a heading, but the actual chapter is missing. In the brief summary it is emphasised that in the marine area, the likelihood of interference with fisheries is low as pipelines located close to the shore and under the seabed do not affect the location of potential open-sea fisheries. Estonian ships visited the ICES 25 sub-division four times within the past eight years, including one visit at the Polish coast in 2022. Having analysed the Transboundary Documentation, the Ministry of Rural Affairs of the Republic of Estonia noted that in the English version of the material provided, in Part 6 “Extract from Volume IV of the EIA Report - Impact Assessment”, the Table of Contents includes the heading of Chapter IV.18.7. “Impact of the Project on fisheries”, but the document does not contain the actual chapter discussing the impact of the Project of the Polish nuclear plant on fisheries. According to the structure of the Documentation for the purposes of the transboundary environmental impact assessment, presented in Chapter 2 “Document structure” in Part I “Introduction”, the above Documentation constitutes a collection of detailed information selected from individual volumes of the EIA Report. If the contents of any chapter/subchapter are not quoted in this Documentation in the extracts from volumes I, II, III, IV, and V of the EIA Report, it results from the fact that the information contained in the specific chapter/subchapter does not affect the assessment of the potential significant adverse transboundary impact on the environment. Although in certain cases the contents of the EIA Report chapters are not quoted, the description of a specific aspect is summarized in Part 2 which constitutes “Volume VI of the EIA Report - Non-Technical Summary”. 2 Investor’s statement on Estonia’s comments made to the transboundary impact documentation EN In connection with the above, as rightly observed by the Ministry of Rural Affairs of the Republic of Estonia, the Transboundary Documentation provided does not include the chapter concerning the effect of the Project on fisheries, which stems from the lack of any significant adverse effect of the Project on this branch of economy related to the Baltic Sea. The impacts on fisheries will only be of local and regional character. To confirm the above, below we present the extract of information from Chapter III “Environmental characteristics”, Volume IV “Impact assessment”, and Volume VI “Non-technical summary” of the EIA Report, where the impact on fisheries is discussed. In the EIA Report, two site variants are analysed (Variant 1 – Lubiatowo-Kopalino site, and Variant 2 – Żarnowiec site), which are situated in the ICES statistical sub-divisions no. 25 (fishing ground no. 105) and no. 26 (fishing ground no. 103). The figure below presents both site variants of the Project against the fishing zones according to the ICES. Figure 1. Fishing zone against the Project site variants Source: Figure VI.3.4.5 -1 “Fishing zone against the site variants” in Chapter VI.3.4.5 “Agriculture and fishing” of Part 2 “Volume VI of the EIA Report - Non-technical Summary” of the Transboundary Documentation. 3 Investor’s statement on Estonia’s comments made to the transboundary impact documentation EN Figure 2. Polish fishing zone Source: Figure III.4.5- 4 “Polish fishing zone” in Chapter III.4.5.3.1.1.1.1 “Pomorskie Voivodeship” in Volume III “Environmental Characteristics” of the EIA Report The density of routes of fishing vessels in the vicinity of both Project variants considered is not significant. The majority of the routes run outside the Project Area of each site variant. However, in the event of demarcating a restricted use zone of marine waters in the Żarnowiec site (Variant 2), part of the existing routes of fishing boats and other watercraft sailing 4 Investor’s statement on Estonia’s comments made to the transboundary impact documentation EN to the Dębki harbour or alongside the coast can be extended. However, they would be mostly local impacts. Figure 3. Ports and harbours in the ASA, ASR and density of fishing vessel routes in both site variants. Variant 1 – Lubiatowo-Kopalino site, and Variant 2 – Żarnowiec site Source: Figure VI.3.4.1-8 “Ports and harbours in the ASA, ASR (...)” in Chapter VI.3.4.1 “Spatial development” of Part 2 “Volume VI of the EIA Report - Non-technical Summary” of the Transboundary Documentation. It should be therefore emphasised that all the identified impacts on fisheries, occurring both in the construction, operation and decommissioning phases of the Project, will be local/regional impacts. Therefore no transboundary impact on fisheries is expected in connection with the execution of the Project in question. As a result of environmental impact assessment of the Project, no significant impacts on the ichthyofauna of marine waters was identified either in any Project sub-variant considered, or in any Project phase. Results of the assessment carried out of the impact on the ichthyofauna in the event of the execution of each Project variant considered are presented in Part 6 “Extract from Volume IV of the EIA Report - Impact assessment” of the Transboundary Documentation provided, in the table for, respectively: 1. the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in Chapter IV.2.10 “Summary and conclusions - Variant 1 - Lubiatowo - Kopalino site”:  for Sub-variant 1A - in Table IV.2 - 251 “The summary of the impacts for the selected groups (ichthyofauna, avifauna, marine mammals): Sub-variant 1A”;  for Sub-variant 1B - in Table IV.2 - 252 “The summary of impacts for selected groups (ichthyofauna, avifauna, marine mammals): Sub-variant 1B”; 5 Investor’s statement on Estonia’s comments made to the transboundary impact documentation EN  for Sub-variant 1C - in Table IV.2 - 253 “The summary of the impacts for the selected groups (ichthyofauna, avifauna, marine mammals): Variant 1C”; 2. the Żarnowiec site in Chapter IV.2.13 “Summary and conclusions - Variant 2 - Żarnowiec site”:  for Sub-variant 2A - in Table IV.2 - 315 “The summary of impacts for selected groups (ichthyofauna, avifauna, marine mammals, non-native species): Sub-variant 2A”;  for Sub-variant 2B - in Table IV.2 - 316 “The summary of impacts for selected groups (ichthyofauna, avifauna, marine mammals): Sub-variant 2B”. In the construction phase, with reference to both site variants considered, no significant impacts on the marine fishing industry are forecast. Restrictions of access to waters/coast for anglers and fishermen will apply only in the vicinity of the Project Area. For both variants, a traffic exclusion zone will be established (Project Area / construction site), therefore activities related to fishery near the coastal zone can be disrupted. However, the impacts would be exclusively local. In the operational phase, with reference to both site variants considered, no significant impacts on the marine fishing industry are forecast, either. The area where the infrastructure of the cooling/make-up water intake and the discharge of heated cooling water along with treated industrial wastewater is to be located, will be excluded from general use. In connection with the operation of the seawater intake installation for cooling purposes, it is planned to apply technical solutions such as the fish recovery and return system, which additionally reduce the risk of impact of the above cooling water intake system on fish. The ichthyofauna surveys conducted have led to the conclusion that in the Project Area there are locations that could be recognized as significant spawning grounds or areas of rearing juvenile fish. Thanks to the environmental impact assessment conducted, the type and magnitude of impacts on ichthyofauna in specific phases and stages of the Project execution could be determined. In the context of the above, in the construction phase of the Project, impacts of a local range and negligible magnitude have been identified, and low magnitude impacts associated primarily with the emission of underwater noise at the development stage. At the construction stage of the construction phase, impacts on ichthyofauna have been identified of a local extent, negligible and low magnitude, which are associated chiefly with the increased quantity of suspended sediments, seabed smothering as a result of a resettlement of suspended sediments, and underwater noise caused by construction works. Results of the forecast assessment of the Project environmental impact in the operational phase have also led to the conclusion that the impacts on ichthyofauna will be in the majority of cases of local range and negligible magnitude. Only the extent of the impact associated with the discharge of thermal and chemical wastewater in the operational phase, and entrapment of fish as a result of the cooling water intake will differ from the above, as the impacts will be of regional range and low magnitude. 6