Deividas Matulionis, international policy adviser to Lithuania’s prime minister, told the daily that the discussions should involve officials of the ministries of Energy, Finance, Interior Affairs, Foreign Affairs, National Defence and Environment in addition to representatives of institutions in charge of radiation safety.
The interior minister’s adviser Karolis Vaitkevičius noted that Lithuania should be ready for various scenarios, regardless of assurances from Belarus about safety of the nuclear facility some 50 km from Lithuania’s capital Vilnius.
“The most relevant issues include readiness to apply protective actions envisaged by radiation safety and health care specialists to protect the nation and minimize the possible effects of random and determined events of ionizing radiation,” Interior Minister Eimutis Misiūnas said via his adviser.
The body of the second reactor of the Astravyets facility was mounted on Dec. 2, according to a statement from the Belarusian Energy Ministry.
Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, which is constructing the first nuclear power plant in Belarus said in July that both Astravyets reactors should be operational in the summer of 2020.
Lithuania has been accusing Minsk of unsafe construction of the Astravyets power plant, which is in violation of international commitments.