IAEA's overview report on Belarus expected in late June

MINSK, 13 April (BelTA) – The International Atomic Energy Agency's overview report on Belarus is expected to be published in late June. Oleg Sobolev, a consultant with the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor), mentioned it in BelTA's press center.

Another cycle of the Convention on Nuclear Safety ended with a review meeting of the contracting parties to the convention in the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria in March 2023. Belarus began the cycle as a beginner country in the area of nuclear energy industry and finished it as a country with an operating unit of the nuclear power plant. During the meeting Belarus' national report on fulfilling the convention over the course of six years (from 2017 through 2022) was presented.

The IAEA has prepared a country-specific overview report as a result of the meeting. It has not been published yet. Oleg Sobolev said: “According to the rules, there is a reticence period of 90 days after the end of the meeting of the contracting parties. If countries fail to submit some introductory remarks, questions or comments, then the national reports and reports on reviewing these reports will become publicly available on the IAEA website. 90 days means three months or actually the end of June.”

A preliminary version of the report on Belarus was discussed during the meeting in Vienna. “The discussion focused on what things from three components – challenges, proposals, and areas of successful work – will be added to the report. Challenges are related to certain difficulties and require additional efforts on the part of the regulator, the organization it oversees, and other parties concerned. The initial report contained 23 challenges for the country. During discussions we managed to convince [participants of the meeting] that work in these areas is done on a daily basis and represents no challenge for us. The final version of the report contained only four challenges and the Belarusian side suggested two of them,” noted Maksim Mazurenko, Head of the Office for the Organization of Oversight over Nuclear and Radiation Safety of Nuclear Installations at Gosatomnadzor.

The International Atomic Energy Agency suggested that Belarus should implement five measures to improve performance. “Challenges and proposals were related to the development of the safety infrastructure. It will allow us to correct our work,” Maksim Mazurenko added.

Apart from that, the report mentions nine areas of successful work. “In particular, it mentioned accomplishments relating to how many international missions we've invited to come and how many international experts have been to our country with official mandates for examining the safety of our nuclear power plant. During the meeting one of the countries noted that this number of international experts cannot be in error about Belarus' fulfillment of obligations and requirements concerning the safety of the nuclear power plant. For me personally this comment was the key result of defense of our national report,” the official stressed.