USA calls on Belarus, Lithuania to maintain dialogue on BelNPP

MINSK, 8 October (BelTA) – Lithuania should cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Belarus on the issue of the Belarusian NPP. The United States will not interfere with the talks on this matter, US Energy Secretary Rick Perry said while on visit to Vilnius, the Litovsky Kurier newspaper informs with reference to the BNS agency.

There is the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency's role is to make sure that facilities like that meet international standards, Rick Perry said. So I would recommend that Lithuania pay attention to this.

He also said that everybody wants to see safe and economic nuclear energy programs in different countries of the world.

The United States urges Lithuania and Belarus to continue cooperation while maintaining transparency. Water-water energy reactors (VVER) that are similar to those of the Belarusian nuclear power plant safely operate in different countries of the world. In the future, the USA could also supply fuel to the Belarusian NPP. Several power plants in the world are already using fuel from the USA, US Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal said in an interview to BNS.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built near Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast using a Russian design featuring two VVER-1200 reactors with the total output capacity of 2,400MW. The first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in late 2019, with the second one to go online in 2020.