Opinions & Interviews

The official said: “Naturally, we are interested in establishing a good working relationship with Lithuania, too. We hope that Vilnius will return to the format of constructive and professional dialogue.”

Upon the invitation of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs a number of foreign diplomats visited the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant on 26 May. “Many ambassadors availed themselves of the opportunity. In addition to seeing how construction operations proceed they could ask the top officials of the Energy Ministry questions directly. Unfortunately, instead of simply declining our invitation on the same day Lithuanian colleagues arranged an event of their own at the border for the diplomatic corps,” said Dmitry Mironchik.

The Belarusian side has no intention of limiting its efforts to fact-finding visits to the construction site and keeping the project transparent is not a goal in itself. “We tightly cooperate with the IAEA, the European Commission, other partners and use their expert potential as much as possible. It is done for the benefit of the project and for ensuring its safety,” explained Dmitry Mironchik.

The official mentioned several examples to support his statements. In spring Belarus successfully passed a review of how the country implements the Nuclear Safety Convention. A national report was released as well as the relevant questions and answers to them. Moreover, the website of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry has published the so-called confidential report filed by the country group after reading the Belarusian report. “I am not sure whether Lithuanian colleagues, who criticize us for lack of transparency, have done the same as far as their report on implementing the convention is concerned,” noted the Press Secretary of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Apart from that, Belarus is one of the leaders among the IAEA member states by the number of IAEA missions the country has requested and has hosted before commissioning the first reactor of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. Since October 2016 alone Belarus has welcomed two major missions — an Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) mission and a Site and External Events Design (SEED) review mission. “You have to understand that an IAEA mission is a service provided to the member states, not a token of trust. We invite missions in order to get an independent evaluation and recommendations and use them in our work,” said the official. “We don’t have to publish reports of the IAEA technical missions, yet we do that.”

The report from the SEED mission Belarus hosted in January 2017 is supposed to be released this week, said the press secretary.

At last, the Belarusian nuclear power plant has undergone a series of stress tests. Their results are now being studied by the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry. At the same time Belarus is working with the European Commission to arrange an evaluation of the stress tests as partners. “We intend to proceed with real work to ensure the safety of the Belarusian nuclear power plant in an open manner,” stressed Dmitry Mironchik.