EC to look into Lithuania’s complaints over Belarusian nuclear plant

The commission’s official has confirmed to BNS that the Lithuanian address had been received.

“I can confirm that this letter has been received. We are now looking into it and as all letters sent to the Commission, also this letter will be duly replied to,” EC’s Spokeswoman for Climate Action and Energy Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said.

She also said that the EC wanted Belarus to conduct stress tests of the nuclear utility.

“Moreover, the Commission is discussing the organization of an EU peer review of the comprehensive and transparent risk and safety assessments (“stress test”) of the NPP. Commission explicitly encourages a stress test at Belarus nuclear power plant,” Itkonen added.

After the body of the Astravyets nuclear reactor tumbled on July 10, the plant’s constructor, Russia’s Rosatom, said it had no effect upon the equipment. However, the Belarusian Energy Ministry halted the assembly work.

Last Thursday, Lithuania’s government handed a note to a Belarusian diplomat over the incident. Lithuania’s foreign, energy and environment ministers sent a letter to European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic and Climate and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete to inform them about the incident and to ask for active EU involvement in solving the issue of nuclear safety.