News

A bilateral meeting of Lithuanian and Belarusian experts will take place on 21-22 June in Vilnius. The meeting will focus on the construction of the nuclear power plant (NPP) in Belarus.

In the meeting, Lithuania will raise questions about selection and evaluation of the construction site for the Astravets NPP, ensuring the NPP’s safety, a potential impact of the NPP on Lithuania’s environment and population. Belarus has not yet provided answers to these questions, so continued implementation of the project raises major concerns. The Astravets NPP is being built only 40 km from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. In case of an incident at the NPP, Lithuania will suffer the worst effects. Therefore, requirements are set out that this project has to be carried out strictly in compliance with international standards for nuclear safety and environmental protection.

Lithuanian institutions requested Belarus to submit research data and to answer the following questions: “Why was the construction site for the NPP chosen just 40 km from Vilnius? Why is the data of research into the seismic and geological properties of the construction site, which was provided by Lithuanian institutions and suggests the existence of serious defects, not taken into account? How will water from the River Neris be used to cool the reactors? How will continuous supplies of water be ensured (especially in light of the fact that the river is approximately 55-65 meters below the nuclear installation that is to be built)? How will this affect the river ecosystem and the quality of drinking-water?”, or “Will the reactors be able to withstand airplane crashes? What will be the ways to ensure the competence and independence of the Belarusian nuclear regulator? What could be the impact of the maintenance of the Belarusian NPP under normal operating conditions and, in case of an incident, on Lithuania’s environment and population? How will radioactive wastes and spent fuel be managed?"

Lithuania has raised these questions for 7 years since August 2009, when Belarus officially announced its plans to build the first NPP in the country and presented a preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Lithuania’s competent institutions and experts thoroughly examined the materials and provided 39 comments, especially noting the potential negative effects if the Astravets construction site was to be chosen for the Belarusian NPP. Belarus disregarded these comments, therefore, on 16 June 2011, Lithuania filed a complaint with the Implementation Committee of the Espoo Convention stating that Belarus had violated this United Nations Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context. In March 2013, the Implementation Committee of the Espoo Convention presented its conclusions confirming that Belarus had violated the Convention. During the meeting of the Parties to the Espoo Convention, 12 recommendations for the rectification of the situation were provided. Belarus has been constantly urged to implement these recommendations.

It should also be noted that the meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention in 2014 adopted the conclusions that Belarus had violated also the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (The Aarhus Convention). Lithuania filed a complaint with the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee on 25 March 2015.

Moreover, Lithuania calls on Belarus to immediately request the IAEA’s Site and External Events Design Review Service (SEED) to provide an independent review of the site evaluation and the designed safety of the nuclear installation, as well as to fulfil the commitment of 23 June 2011 to undertake comprehensive risk and safety assessments (stress tests), taking into account the agreement with the European Commission, to invite experts from the European Union and Lithuania to take part in that process and to accept international experts’ assistance with the evaluation of the Belarusian NPP project, as proposed by the Implementation Committee (Espoo Convention).

At the meeting in Vilnius, the Lithuanian delegation will also take interest in measures taken by Belarus to ensure that the construction works are carried out correctly. Lithuania is concerned over the recent reports on incidents at the Astravets NPP. On 5 May, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania summoned the Ambassador of Belarus to Lithuania Aleksandr Korol, who was handed a diplomatic note and requested to promptly submit comprehensive information about the accident. These diplomatic steps were taken immediately after the Belarusian media reported the incident. In the beginning, the Belarusian authorities denied the information, but later acknowledged that the incident had occurred on 8 April 2016. The load bearing structures were damaged when casting the lap of the hull that was under construction between the two reactors. Only two months later, at the beginning of June, Lithuania received information about another alleged incident at the would-be Astravets NPP. On 8 June, Lithuania summoned another Belarusian diplomat, who was also handed a diplomatic note. On 20 June, Lithuania received a diplomatic note of response from Belarus, denying the information about the incident.

It is important to note that the information presented at the meeting by Belarus will be carefully examined and evaluated by Lithuanian experts, who will also evaluate the compliance with the international standards for nuclear safety and environmental protection. Whereas, since the very beginning, the Belarusian NPP project has been developed in breach of the Espoo Convention (the construction site for the Belarusian NPP was selected and construction works began before the official start of the cross-border EIA procedures), Lithuania believes that the participation of the EU and Lithuanian experts in international missions is a necessary condition for addressing the Astravets NPP’s safety and security issues.

The bilateral meeting of Lithuanian and Belarusian experts will be attended by experts from various Lithuanian institutions, including the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate, the Radiation Protection Centre, the Geological Survey of Lithuania, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Radioactive Waste Management Agency, the Fire and Rescue Department, the Centre for Physical Sciences and Technology, etc.