Events

Belarus mulls over second NPP project

An archive photo

KOSTYUKOVICHI, 30 April (BelTA) – The Belarusian society has recovered from the post-Chernobyl syndrome, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he talked to residents of the town of Kostyukovichi on 30 April, BelTA has learned.

"Probably, our society has recovered from the post-Chernobyl syndrome," the president said. He stressed that he was very worried when making the decision to build a nuclear power plant, taking into account the Chernobyl legacy. Belarus relied on Russia’s support and the international experience which it carefully studied, including with the assistance of the IAEA. 

Speaking about the Chernobyl disaster, Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that anything can happen in life. The human factor played a role then.

"Anything can happen. But this does not mean that we should stop, do nothing and wait for happiness to fall from the sky. We took a chance. I took the risk, and you did too. Today we understand that we did the right thing. This is the cleanest type of energy," the head of state emphasized. “We built it not only to get electricity but to start a new school of expertise in Belarus. The construction and operation of the plant leads to education. Today we have our own specialists. And I wanted Belarusians to learn to do it."

Now Belarusian specialists have the opportunity to work abroad on the construction of nuclear power plants. Belarus built more than a third of its first plant itself. The engineers and technologies were from Russia.

Aleksandr Lukashenko is confident that Belarus acted wisely by going ahead with the nuclear power plant project, despite all the criticism and pressure from Poland and Lithuania.

The president recalled that opponents at one time proposed to shut down the BelNPP, which was still under construction at the time. He, in turn, urged not to rush and see what the Western countries themselves were doing.

"Poland, which initiated this smear campaign against us, plans to build two nuclear power plants. Lithuania, having lost Ignalina... It was a normal plant, operational. Lithuania could maintain it in a proper condition and receive electricity. Today they buy it at crazy prices," the Belarusian leader said.

print version

make home page

add to bookmarks