LITHUANIA NOT SATISFIED WITH BELARUS' ANSWERS ON N-PLANT – FORMIN (BNS, 24 May 2011)
VILNIUS, May 24, BNS - Lithuania is not satisfied with the answers received from Belarus with respect to the projected nuclear power plant, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Mindaugas Lasas, director of the ministry's Press and Public Relations Division, told BNS that Lithuanian experts were currently analyzing the position, adding it was already clear Minsk had not answered all questions.“We can already say that answers were not given to the most important and the most alarming guestions. Criteria behind the selection of the site for the nuclear plant is one of them,” Lasas said.
“We regret over Belarus' repeated failure to abide by international standards, the attempts to conduct dialogue in the media thus avoiding a professional dialogue. This is testified by the quality of the answers provided,” the diplomat noted.
In his words, the society is still misled about the harmonization of the nuclear site with the International Atomic Nuclear Energy (IAEA), as this has not yet been done.
The Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry has prepared an open letter, saying Lithuania should not be alarmed by the plans to build a nuclear power plant merely 30 kilometers from Lithuania.
Belarusian officials have also dismisses as ungrounded Lithuania's complaints about reactors at future Belarusian and Russian nuclear power plants being experimental. Minsk also said the environmental impact assessment study has been prepared in a proper manner.
Lithuania has criticized Belarusian and Russian plans to build nuclear power plants near Lithuania's borders claiming the projects run counter international agreements. Lithuanian officials are concerned with the fact that the planned reactors have not been tested before. Lithuanian diplomats also say Belarus has not so far explained its choice of the construction site for the plant, have no emergency plans and ignore safety issues. Lithuania believes public hearings were carried out improperly and also warns of possible contamination of the river Neris.
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