Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 26 September (BelTA) – Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano welcomes the fact that Belarus has invited the agency’s assessment missions to visit the country. The official made the relevant statement on the sidelines of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna, BelTA has learned.

Yukiya Amano said: “Belarus has invited IAEA missions. We recognize good practices. As part of such missions we are ready to give recommendations to countries. It is very important.”

Countries are free to decide on implementing nuclear programs, but if a country launches such a project, the IAEA stands by to provide assistance, give recommendations for the sake of the project’s reliability and safety, added Yukiya Amano.

The IAEA Director General reminded he had personally visited Belarus and the nuclear power plant construction site in Ostrovets. “I was impressed with the level of the project’s implementation,” he remarked.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build a VVER-1200 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The BelNPP will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2,400MW (2x1,200MW).