Mikhadyuk: Belarus has repeatedly invited Lithuania to discuss BelNPP project

Belarus has repeatedly invited Lithuania to sit down at the negotiating table to discuss the Belarusian nuclear power plant project, Belarus Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk said at a press briefing at the Atomexpo forum in Moscow, BelTA has learned.

The Deputy Minister spoke against making allegations unsupported by any evidence. He stressed that the parties should engage in dialogue. “Many times we have sent Lithuania explaining answers, offered to discuss matters at the level of experts. It is only following the instructions given at the 35th session of the Implementation Committee (Espoo Convention) that experts will gather for the first meeting in June. The Committee recommended that we sit down at the negotiating table at the level of technical experts, and that is what we are going to do. Belarus has repeatedly spoken about it over the past five years. At the government level alone we have officially offered to sit down at the negotiating table on four occasions,” Mikhail Mikhadyuk said. He also noted that the issue of the nuclear power plant is becoming “a political card” that individual players are using ahead of the upcoming elections in Lithuania.

According to the Deputy Minister, Belarus will soon host a SEED mission to evaluate the NPP site. He emphasized that the safety assessment should be made by experts. The IAEA plays an authoritative role in these matters, and its leadership spoke highly of the progress in the Belarusian project.

“Numerous foreign delegations, including those from countries of the European Union, have visited the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. We show everything openly and answer all questions. We are interested in the safety of the plant like no one else,” Mikhail Mikhadyuk noted.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build an AES-2006 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The BelNPP will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2,400MW (2x1,200MW). In line with the general contract for building the nuclear power plant the first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018, with the second one to go online in 2020.