Fake news about BelNPP branded as attempt to discredit Belarus' relations with Russia

MINSK, 19 December (BelTA) – Fake news about the Belarusian nuclear power plant is another attempt to discredit the country's relations with Russia. Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk made the statement as he commented on the negative information published by a foreign news agency about the Belarusian nuclear power plant, BelTA has learned.

Mikhail Mikhadyuk said: “It is yet another attempt to use this project to discredit our good relations with the elder brother – the Russian Federation.” In his words, interaction with Russia allows Belarus to build up the “economic muscle” and raise living standards of the citizens.

The official remarked that such attempts to discredit the Belarusian nuclear power plant have been made repeatedly since the project was launched. “During the construction of the nuclear power plant we were always open to all international organizations, including missions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We answered all the questions we received,” the deputy energy minister emphasized. “When the decision on building the Belarusian nuclear power plant was under consideration, we understood perfectly well the dangers of mishandling nuclear technologies. In the very first days the head of state presented us with a strict condition: safety is the overriding priority during the construction of the nuclear power plant. We proceeded from that.”

In his words, Belarus has insisted on safety since the very start. A number of regulatory documents were passed. All the government agencies discharged their oversight functions attentively and approached every step in the course of the project's realization with due diligence. If safety could be increased at some point or things could be improved, it was done. “It required some additional equipment checks. Some minor design solutions had to be perfected. There is nothing surprising about that,” he said.

Mikhail Mikhadyuk said that critics of the project focus on individual routine things and try to portray them as some catastrophe. “There is no catastrophe. We don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot. We don't want to harm neighboring countries. We understand our responsibility before our children, grandchildren, and future generations,” he stressed.

In his opinion, the safety of such nuclear facilities relies on three pillars: the design, the quality of implementation, and personnel. Speaking about personnel, Mikhail Mikhadyuk remarked that a government program on training personnel for the nuclear energy industry was passed in advance back in 2008. “It was successfully realized. The nuclear power plant is fully staffed with the necessary amount of workers that the normal operation of the nuclear power plant requires. As for the operators, instead of five or six shifts, which would be sufficient to do the job, we have eight shifts. Together with the general contractor we employed only highly qualified workers: construction workers, assemblers, and service technicians. Our project was a priority one for the Russian state corporation Rosatom. The best Russian specialists worked at our site,” the Belarusian deputy energy minister stated.

“The attack launched in mass media today represents yet another attempt to discredit, to besmirch our joint project with the Russian Federation. Time will tell and time already tells that the nuclear power plant operates reliably and confidently,” Mikhail Mikhadyuk concluded.