In response to the information that Belarus is preparing to launch the second power unit of its nuclear power plant (NPP) – physically launching the reactor and planning to connect to the power grid — the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania sent a note of protest to the Foreign Ministry of Belarus, strictly insisting on the immediate suspension of the Belarusian NPP project until all nuclear safety issues identified by international missions and review processes are resolved.
“Belarus prepares for the launch of the second defective power unit, keeping incidents and defects secret from the public, while the Russian President threatens to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus. It shows dictatorships’ irresponsible treatment of nuclear power and poses a nuclear threat to the entire region,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis said.
Belarus still needs to resolve safety issues affecting the NPP project, such as its impact on the environment and residents of Lithuania, ensuring a safety culture, and implementing international recommendations.
On 9 March this year, the Department of State Security and the Second Department of Operational Services under the Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania published the assessment of threats to national security, noting that Belarus concealed incidents and defects in reactor systems in the first and second power units of the Belarusian NPP in 2022, resulting in the halt of the first power unit’s operation for more than half a year and a delay of the launch of the second power unit. More technical defects will likely be discovered when the second power unit starts operating. In addition, Belarus fails to inform its neighbouring countries about the actual situation in Astravets, which has justifiably been a source of institutions’ heightened concern and fed public fear.
“Numerous incidents, strange occurrences, outages, equipment failure and a climate of opacity have steadily afflicted the Russian state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom’s NPP project. Therefore, Lithuania will continue raising the issue of imposing sanctions on Russia’s nuclear power sector and its state monopoly, Rosatom,” Lithuania’s Foreign Minister said.
Belarus’ decision to construct the Astravets NPP on the site, which is only 40 km away from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, violates international nuclear and radiation protection and environmental requirements. It is also incompatible with the principles of openness and transparency.
According to Landsbergis, Lithuania will continue taking all possible measures to protect the safety and well-being of its residents as long as the Belarusian NPP is operating near Astravets.
