Scientists of three countries discuss safety of Belarusian nuclear power plant in Sweden

MINSK, 27 February (BelTA) – An international seminar dedicated to the independent evaluation of background radiation monitoring around the Belarusian nuclear power plant took place in the city of Malmo, Sweden on 24-26 February, representatives of the Belarusian embassy in Sweden told BelTA.

The seminar gathered representatives of Lund University (Sweden), the Radiobiology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and the St Petersburg Radiation Hygiene Research Institute (Russia), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Sweden Dmitry Mironchik, and a representative of the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority Zlatan Delalic.

Participants of the seminar discussed the first results of the measurements taken in the area surrounding the Belarusian nuclear power plant in autumn 2019. Participants of the seminar discussed the data and paid close attention to working out a strategy of interaction in the near future and to expanding the geography of the research.

Director of the Radiobiology Institute Igor Cheshik noted: “Cooperation with Lund University is one of the most important avenues of international cooperation for us. The project is of current interest not only from the scientific point of view. It also has an important social aspect.”

Chief Manager of the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority Zlatan Delalic talked about many years of cooperation with Lund University and with the Radiobiology Institute. In his words, measurements near the Belarusian nuclear power plant should become a contribution to the future system of environmental monitoring in the area for the benefit of all the parties and for nuclear safety as a whole. “Lund University has unique experience and knowledge in this field. It performs similar tasks at Swedish enterprises. Cooperation between the Radiobiology Institute and Lund University will help build up potential in this field in Belarus as well,” Zlatan Delalic noted.

In turn, Dmitry Mironchik stressed that Belarus' interaction with Northern European countries in the area of nuclear safety received a new impulse after the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor) signed a memorandum of cooperation with similar bodies of Sweden, Norway, and Finland in 2016. The ambassador hailed vigorous interaction of the scientific circles of Belarus and Sweden and talked about prospects of building up the legal base of relations between Belarus and countries of the region in this sphere.

Trilateral cooperation of Belarusian, Swedish, and Russian scientists has been going on since 2016. Their association is expanding efforts and intends to find new partners for continuing the research.