Although the nuclear industry promises to provide some thousands of jobs, the majority of it is for well-trained and experienced in nuclear power industry professionals. There is no such professionals living in the area. Only very small number of jobs will be left for thousands of jobless local residents. At the same time, there is big lack of trained nuclear professionals in Russia in general.

The region is agricultural and will be strongly affected by the project. There are companies that produce milk products and other a/c types of food. Most of them, if not all, will have to leave the area around the plant. There is no other type of business developed in the area. Therefore, this project is likely to have more of a negative impact on the local economy rather than a positive impact.

Local residents in Kaliningrad have been denied the right to vote whether they want this nuclear plant to be built or not. There have been a total of 4 applications requesting a local referendum so far, but all of them were rejected by local authorities for various formal reasons.

According to independent public opinion polls, the majority of local citizens oppose the Baltic NPP and prefer non-nuclear options of development.  Their voice has, however, been ignored . A large number of local citizens were not allowed to participate in the official public hearings of this project and "Rosatom", the company which is implementing the project, has refused to hold additional public hearings, even in areas which will be directly affected by the project.  There have also been numerous public protests in the region since the construction of the Baltic NPP started.    

The Environmental Impact Assessment does not comply with Russian legal norms. There is serious lack of information about: future pollution from nuclear plant, radioactive waste management (it is not even clear how different types of waste will be disposed), there is also a lack of data about pollution caused by uranium mining, production, decomissioning and radioactive waste. The analysis of the possible nuclear accidents is not adequate - it is said that radiation release may only affect the territory of the nuclear plant itself but not any other territories. At the same time, there is absolutely no scientific or technical arguments on why radiation would stop on the border of the facility and not go further. The design of the nuclear plant (pressurized water reactor) has serious flaws - there are scenarios which includes explosion of the reactor (as a result of losing external power supply, big loss of coolant, etc). At the same time, no protective measures for local population is included in the project. That may lead to larger damage for local population in case of a more serious accident.

Arrival of the nuclear power industry to Kaliningrad region sidelines the development of alternatives - renewable sources of energy, the most environmental friendly among existing power alternatives. Before the nuclear industry arrived to the region, it was planned that a 50 MWt windpower plant will be built on the coast of Baltic Sea. But this plan was cancelled after the decision to build reactors was made. According to local reports, all research in the field of renewables development in Kaliningrad region was halted.

Nuclear safety norms in Russia are so low that the country still operates 11 Chernobyl-type reactors (RBMKs), thus exposing Europe to the risk of a new nuclear catastrophe. In Luthuiania, reactors of this type were shut down due to concerns of the European Commission regarding their safety. Many corruption scandals in "Rosatom" over the past two years clearly demonstrated that the Russian nuclear industry cannot be trusted to produce quality equipment for nuclear plants. 

Although the site of the Baltic NPP falls within the international airway zone to Kaliningrad, the reactor design has never been tested for the case of a large airplane crash. According to the Lithuanian government, the Baltic NPP project has not been subjected to safety testing based on the methodology agreed by the EU and third countries.

There is no need for electricity in Kaliningrad Oblast, no need to Germany, Poland and Lithuania. This project is being implemented in a region where no new energy capacity is needed. The latest study of the Baltic NPP has indicated that the local energy system is not capable of transferring the large amounts of energy the Baltic NPP is slated to produce. It also concluded that the project is too expensive and that the price of energy from this plant will be higher than from other market suppliers in the Baltic region. And there is also a strong opposition in Lithuania, which voted against nuclear power in a national referendum in 2012. 

Underground water at the construction site is very close to the surface and sometimes right on the surface. At the same time, according to Russian construction norms, it must not be higher than 40 meters down from surface. According to a source in the local government of Kaliningrad region, geological research on the site chosen for nuclear plant was done with many flaws, nuclear plant designers and constructors did not follow necessary procedures. An evaluation of seismic risks at the site has never been performed.  

According to research commissioned in 2010 by Russian branch of Transparency International and Ecodefense, corruption risks in the Russian nuclear industry are very high. Up to 40% of trade deals (involving buying of construction materials for new reactors) are characterized with corruption risk. In the past two years, there was at least two cases when wrong construction materials were used for the construction of new reactors. At Novovoronezh-2 nuclear plant, apprx 600 km south of Moscow, cracks were found in the concrete foundation of the reactor which may lead to an accident when the reactor is put into operation. Also, at Leningrad-2 nuclear plant, the frame built of steel armature for the new reactor was completely falling apart last summer. In both cases, the root of the problem was the use of wrong (cheaper) type of construction materials for new reactors.

VVER-1200 design is new, such reactors have never been put in operation yet.

Next to Mochovce and Temelin, the Kaliningrad nuclear project is set to become one of the next focal targets of the European anti-nuclear movement. The potential funders of this project run the clear risk of being exposed publicly across Europe for their financial support.