Belarus has indicated that upon conclusion of stress tests on its
Russian-built nuclear plant it will present its conclusions to the
Commission. This is whatChristos Stylianides,Commissioner in charge of
Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, toldtodayEU lawmakers worried
that thefuture Belarus nuclear plant, built close to Lithuania’s
border, will not be upto EU and international standards.
Stylianides assured MEPs in Strasbourg that Belarus promised to
deliver its assessment report in 2017 at the latest. But Polish and
Lithuanian European protested today that as a rule Belarus hasuntil now
failed to honour its commitments. — “Have we learned the lessons of
Chernobyl?” asked one angry Lithuanian MEP.
Many EU lawmakers asked the Commission to “terminate” the construction of the plant, built by a “dictator”.
Belarus has its first nuclear power plant already under construction
and plans to have it operating from operating from 2018, with Russian
finance.In November 2013,Belarus PresidentAlyaksandr Lukashenka
signed a decreeauthorisingthe construction of the country’s first
nuclear power plant,near the town of Ostrovets, some 180km from Minsk.
The way became immediately clear for Atomstroyeksport, the
construction wing of Russia’s state atomic company Rosatom, to start
building the facility.The plant atOstrovetsin thenorthwest, near the
Lithuanian border, will have two Russian reactors capable of generating
some 2.4 gigawatts of electricity.The Belarus governmentexpects the
first unitto belaunched in 2018 and the second in 2020.
Russia is also extending a loan of some $10 billion to Belarus to cover construction costs.
Last week, the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the
Belarusian Emergencies Ministry has issued licenses to three
construction and installation companies, which are taking part in the
construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant.
The United States has repeatedly expressed disappointment after
Belarus suspended its involvement in an old plan to get rid of its
stockpile of highly enriched uranium withU.S.assistance.
The U.S. State Department still insists it hopes Belarus “intends to
meet its stated objective of the elimination of all of its stocks of
highly enriched uranium.”
The State Department said this would be a “responsible contribution to global security.”
Lukashenka has said Belarus has “hundreds of kilograms” of highly
enriched uranium from Soviet times — material that could potentially be
diverted for use in a nuclearweapon.
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