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Recently, Russian, Belarusian and Lithuanian press is again full of reports and comments, that allegedly the construction of nuclear power plants in Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad Region complied with international standards, and that Lithuania allegedly was informed about that. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again stresses that the actions of Russia and Belarus when planning the construction of nuclear objects in the EU’s neighbourhood international did not comply with international nuclear safety standards.

Until now, Lithuania has not received any detailed data on the criteria for the choice of the sites for the development of nuclear projects in Astravets and Neman neither from Russia nor from Belarus. So far all information has been only declarative in nature, and in most cases without any reasonable scientific calculations or argumentation.

This violates the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Convention on Nuclear Safety and the United Nations Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention). They recommend exhaustively assessing all factors related to the construction site, impact on human health and environment, and providing all the affected parties with necessary information, thus enabling them to carry out their own assessment of potential impact of nuclear objects on their territories, and that such rights of the affected parties should not be restricted.

These international Conventions require that final decisions would be taken and real work would start only after the assessment of environmental impact, including comments and findings of the consultations with the countries that are participating in this process in compliance with the Espoo Convention.

Claims by Russia and Belarus that the choice of these construction sites was adjusted with the IAEA are unrealistic, because this organization has not approved such choice. In accordance with international standards, the small distance (50 km) from the site in Astravets to the capital of Lithuania is considered a breach of one of the basic safety principles for nuclear power plants.

Public hearings on nuclear power plants in Belarus and Russia were not held in Lithuania, as is foreseen by the Espoo Convention and the Convention on Nuclear Safety. Belarus recognizes that even though they attempted to hold public hearings in Lithuania, they did not guarantee the translation into the Lithuanian language and there were other shortcomings as well, so they did not meet international standards and the public hearings are deemed to have never occurred.

The actions of Russia and Belarus do not meet international requirements, particularly in the field of nuclear safety, which gives rise to international community’s concern. Lithuania will continue to inform all the relevant international organizations: the IAEA, European Union, secretariats of the Convention on Nuclear Safety and the Espoo Convention. Lithuania is actively raising these issues also at the nuclear safety summit that currently takes place in Vienna. Following the adoption of Conclusions by the European Council, Lithuania’s concerns about nuclear safety in the neighbourhood have become a common issue of the EU, and Lithuania together with other member states will continue to strongly raise this issue during all the meetings and forums.