Making Belarus Clean and Green Again

Monday 21 December 2009
After 22 years there could be light at the end of the tunnel for Belarus thanks to a ground-breaking programme by the Government of Belarus to help clean Chernobyl.

The Government of Belarus has chosen PM Group and Greenfield Project Management, to lead the way on a €2 billion public private partnership project called ‘The Chernobyl Bio-Clean Programme’ The programme will allow the use of Biomass from contaminated lands for renewable energy and biofuels". The crops used for bio-fuel production will improve  radiation removal whilst also producing radiation  free biofuels..  

Pat McGrath CEO of PM Group said: “In our 30 years of project management worldwide this is one of the most exciting projects that our company had embarked on. We are very proud that two world class Irish companies can bring their project management expertise to Belarus for what we hope will be a hugely environmental and commercial success for the people and the region. We have received huge support from the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Republic of Belarus and have been working very closely with them every step of the way.  A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Government some years ago and we have all been working very hard since then to bring it to the next stage.

“Working closely with our client, Greenfield Partners, we hope to have agreed all of the plans with the Government of Belarus by the end of this year so that we can start on this exciting and rewarding project early next year”.

The aim of the project is to help the people of the area to improve their environment and their land while at the same time helping to create a large scale biofuels industry in the region which would have fuel ethanol, oil-bearing crops and biogas at its core. 

A biofuels industry that works will ensure that residues are disposed of safely rather than returned to the land.  It is also important to the people in that a complete, clean environment can be delivered earlier than would be possible under current land management practices.  8 million people live in contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine. Belarus is the most affected area, accounting for 80% of the fallout.

The biorefinery will produce four fuels; bioethanol, biodiesel, biogas and green electricity. The core product will be bio-ethanol which will be blended with petrol as E5 or E10 for sale in the EU.