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European commissioner promises support to Lithuania in dispute over Belarusian nuclear power plant

 

The European Commission will try to protect the interests of European Union member states if the Belarusian authorities ignore their criticism concerning the construction of a nuclear power plant in the Hrodna region, Lithuania`s news website delfi.lt reported with reference to Gunther Oettinger, European commissioner for energy.

While visiting Vilnius on November 4, Mr. Oettinger said that the European Commission was in contact with the Belarusian government. The commissioner promised to support the interests of Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

On October 30, the Lithuanian foreign ministry urged Belarus not to start building the nuclear facility until the expected environmental impact of the project was assessed.

The ministry noted that the "environmental impact assessment process of the Belarusian NPP [nuclear power plant] under the Espoo Convention has not been completed." "Therefore, the ongoing construction of the NPP and the decision to start installing nuclear equipment are obvious instances of failure to comply with provisions of the Convention," it said.

The ministry noted that the Espoo Convention’s Implementation Committee issued a report this past April saying that Belarus was not in compliance with its requirements. "The Committee requested Belarus to provide detailed answers to all the questions raised by Lithuania and to take into account comments of the Lithuanian experts, to ensure that the Lithuanian public was provided with opportunities to make comments on the construction of this nuclear power plant, and to comply with other requirements of the Espoo Convention," the statement said.

The Belarusian authorities have repeatedly dismissed Lithuania`s criticism. On November 2, Alyaksandr Lukashenka gave his formal consent to beginning the construction of the plant.

The facility will be situated some 10 miles from the Lithuanian border. Its two reactors are to have a generating capacity of up to 2,400 megawatts in total. The first unit of the plant is scheduled to be put into operation in 2017 and the other one in 2018. AtomStroyExport, a subsidiary company of Russia`s Nuclear Energy State Corporation (Rosatom), is to bear full responsibility for the project as the prime contractor. // BelaPAN