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On 28 July, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of Belarus to Lithuania Lyudmila Tatarinovich was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and requested to immediately provide detailed information related to possibly the third incident in the Astravets nuclear power plant (NPP).

These diplomatic actions were taken after the Belarusian press published information about the incident in the Astravets nuclear power plant (NPP) on 10 July 2016, in which the vessel of the nuclear reactor was possibly damaged. Lithuania considers that this incident is particularly hazardous and might have irreversible negative impact on the safety of the on-going construction of the Astravets nuclear power plant.

The Belarusian diplomat was handed a note, requesting to urgently conduct a thorough investigation of this incident and to acquaint Lithuania and other member states as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with the results of the investigation. Lithuania suggests Belarus to form a team of international experts for analyzing the results of this investigation and making recommendations. The note also expresses Lithuania's concern over the lack of transparency and safety culture as well as the non-compliance with the international standards of nuclear safety and environmental protection, insufficient role of Belarusian nuclear safety regulator and general contractor in ensuring the safety of the construction works.

Belarus was once again urged to invite independent international experts to evaluate the eligibility of the Astravets NPP construction site, construction works and their quality.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania once again requested Belarus to accomplish the following requirements as soon as possible: to invite the Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Site and External Events Design (SEED) mission to fully evaluate the eligibility of the Astravets NPP construction site for nuclear power plant construction and its selection criteria; with participation of the international experts and in accordance with the EU methodology to perform comprehensive risk and safety assessments (stress-tests) as it was agreed between Belarus and the European Commission on 23 June 2011; to establish a commission of international experts, as proposed by the Implementation Committee of the United Nations Espoo Convention for overall assessment of the implementation of the Astravets NPP project.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Energy and Environment of the Republic of Lithuania sent a letter to the Vice-President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič and EU Climate and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete with an intention to inform them about the incident and to request for active EU involvement in solving the issues of nuclear safety which are relevant for the whole region. The Minister of Foreign Affairs also sent a letter to the Director General of the IAEA Yukiya Amano, in which he emphasized important role of this organization for ensuring nuclear safety during the implementation of NNP project, and requested the IAEA to contribute in the investigation of the occurred incidents.

This incident is already the third known incident during the construction of the Astravets NPP in the last four months. The load bearing structures were damaged while bridging the span between two reactors on 8 April 2016. Information on an alleged incident appeared in the press in the beginning of June, however, this information was not confirmed by Belarus institutions.