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Located just 50 kilometers southeast of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in Belarus, the Belarusian nuclear power plant (BelAESZ), built by the Russian nuclear industry giant Roszatom, went into operation last week and was closed on Sunday. . Aleh Szobolev, a member of the staff of the nuclear department of the Ministry of Energy, said the shutdown was due to a failure of some electrical units. In a statement to the news agency, the AP assured the public that the technical failure did not pose any radiation hazard to Belarus or neighboring Lithuania.
The ministry said in a statement Monday that it had been noticed during testing that some electrical devices needed to be replaced, but it was not known why it was necessary and how long it would take.
Neighboring Lithuania has previously classified the nuclear power plant as a safety risk, and last Wednesday, the government of the Baltic country delivered a letter of protest to Belarus condemning the “irresponsible actions” of its neighbor.
Vilnius has already announced an energy boycott before commissioning, according to which it will not buy electricity produced in BelAESZ. Latvia also joined the boycott.
Lithuania alleges that Minsk is disregarding international safety and environmental standards during the construction of the facility, leading to repeated accidents during the works, and accuses its neighbor of failing to apply the recommendations of the stress tests of The EU.
Roszatom’s accusations have been refuted, underlining that the construction of the power plant meets the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Lithuania closed its only nuclear power plant after the Baltic country’s accession to the EU in 2004.
Cover image: Getty Images
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