Lithuania calls for the shutdown of the Belarusian nuclear power plant for nuclear safety reasons

The Lithuanian State Atomic Energy Safety Inspectorate reported last Thursday that it sent a letter to the Belarusian Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) calling for the shutdown and launch of units 1 and 2 of the Belarusian nuclear power plant in Ostrovets. This is reported by the Delfi portal.

Copies of the letter were sent to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the European Commission, the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG), and the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA).

"Most nuclear safety issues remain unresolved. The Inspectorate reminded that it is still awaiting answers to safety questions related to site selection and assessment, the resilience of certain critical safety equipment at the Belarusian NPP to seismic events and the consequences of a major commercial plane crash, the implementation of stress test recommendations, probabilistic safety assessment, fire risk assessment and other safety issues," the statement said.

The Lithuanian State Inspectorate is asking the Belarusian authorities to explain the public information that the cooling circuit of the 2nd power unit's reactor was contaminated with organic substances, and the secondary circulation circuit of the 1st power unit - with radionuclides. The Inspectorate also requests explanations regarding the shortcomings of the reactor vessel fastening, as well as the identified defects and unfinished works.

"The goal is to get information from Belarus about the established limit values of radionuclide activity that are released into the environment. The Inspectorate also calls on the MES and other responsible Belarusian institutions to publish recommendations made during international expert missions and the results of their implementation, to provide additional information necessary for a more accurate forecast of possible emergency emissions," the statement said.

According to the program of gradual energy launch, on May 13, the second power unit of the Belarusian NPP (in Ostrovets) was connected to the grid for the first time - it delivered the first kilowatt-hours of electricity to the country's unified power system.

Earlier, in 2017, the Lithuanian Seimas legally stipulated that the Belarusian NPP is dangerous and poses a threat to national security, the environment, and human health.

Following this, three Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia - agreed to boycott electricity from the Belarusian NPP.