In a resolution, the MEPs called upon the European Commission to assess whether the highest nuclear safety standards are guaranteed for the Astrovyets nuclear power plant currently under construction and whether an EU guarantee to the EIB would not eventually be used for the financing of this nuclear site in Belarus.
The EP members asked the commission to assess whether such a guarantee would be in compliance with the EU sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation.
Constructed by Russia’s nuclear energy corporation Rosatom some 50 km from Vilnius, the Astravyets NPP will feature two reactors, each of 1,200 megawatt (MV) capacity. The first reactor should be launched in 2019, while the second should be operational in 2020.
Belarus’ Energy Ministry says that 512 million US dollars worth of work was conducted in 2016, with the value expected to grow to 580 million US dollars. Russia granted a loan of 10 billion US dollars for the nuclear utility in 2011.
Lithuania’s government maintains that construction of the Astravyets NPP by Belarus violates security standards, also fearing that the power plant might burden the synchronization of Baltic electricity networks with Western Europe.
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