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On 5 May, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Andrius Krivas summoned the Ambassador of Belarus to Lithuania Aleksandr Korol and requested him to promptly submit comprehensive information about the accident at the Astravets nuclear power plant (NPP).

These diplomatic steps were taken immediately after the Belarusian media reported that the structural frame of the would-be Astravets NPP had collapsed. The Foreign Vice-Minister Krivas handed the Belarusian Ambassador the diplomatic note, requesting to promptly provide information about this accident as well as about other accidents, which could have happened since the beginning of the construction works in Astravets. The Ambassador was also requested to urgently inform Lithuanian authorities about the measures that were taken to prevent and avoid such accidents, and Belarusian efforts to ensure that the international requirements for nuclear safety and environmental protection were met.

Based on the information that was reported in the Belarusian media on 4 May, the accident happened in mid-April 2016. However, Belarusian authorities provided no official information or explanations until Lithuania’s official request. According to the Belarusian media, it was not the first time accidents had happened since the beginning of the construction of the Astravets NPP.

On 6 May, Belarus officially acknowledged that the accident at the Astravets NPP was registered, although initially this information was strictly denied. According to the Ministry of Energy of Belarus, the load bearing structures were damaged when casting the lap of the hull that was under construction between the two reactors on 8 April 2016. Belarus calls this incident a defect, which appeared when performing the preparatory work.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania requested Belarus as a matter of urgency (1) to accomplish the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Site and External Events Design peer review mission in its full scope; (2) to perform the comprehensive risk and safety assessments (stress tests) for the Astravets NPP as it was agreed with the European Commission on 23 June 2011; and (3) to reconsider its negative position regarding the establishment of an international experts’ commission that had been proposed by the Implementation Committee of the Espoo Convention for an in-depth analysis of the Astravets NPP case under the Espoo Convention.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania has continuously expressed its concerns over security and safety of the Astravets NPP and raised these questions in the European Union, IAEA, the United Nations and other organisations.