Man killed at Belarusian nuclear plant’s construction site

The facility’s subcontractor BelAES has infomred that the accident occurred last Friday.

A human casualty in the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant of Astravyets shows that the construction is unsafe and that the quality of construction work is low, says Lithuania’s Energy Minister Rokas Masiulis.

“We are increasingly alarmed by regular incidents and the human casualty in the construction site of the Astravyets Nuclear Power Plant. I convey my sincere condolences to the family of the killed individual. Clearly, quality of construction work at the nuclear utility is not ensured. Doubts can only be cleared by a group of international experts, something Lithuania has been asking for a while ago,” Masiulis told BNS.

Citing Belarusian news outlet naviny.by, Lithuania’s lrytas.lt news portal reported on Monday that a person was killed during an accident in subcontracting work by a Russian company at the Belarusian utility on August 26. Reasons behind holding back the information for two days have not been provided.

Lithuania’s government has accused Belarus of falling short of safety standards in the construction of the nuclear utility some 50 km from Vilnius. Bigger or smaller incidents are reported during the construction of the Astravyets utility. During testing in July, the body of the reactor tumbled from 2-4 m in the biggest incident throughout the construction so far. After Belarus requested replacement, Russia’s Rosatom agreed to do this.

Lithuania has proposed that Belarus should set up an international expert team to analyse the construction safety and provide recommendations. Belarus has also been urged to invite independent international experts, however, the country has declined and refused to provide thorough answers about the plant.