The EU is following Lithuania’s lead and disparaging the Belarusian nuclear power plant

Experts from ENSREG and the European Commission will conduct an inspection at the Belarusian NPP from December 14 to 22, built according to a Russian project with the participation of Russian specialists using Russian loans.

This was reported by Deutsche Welle, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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Inspectors will check whether Belarus has complied with EU recommendations on nuclear safety.

“My call remains the same: the expert assessment of the Ostrovets nuclear power plant must be completed as soon as possible. And in the process of putting the power plant into operation, the highest safety standards must be ensured,” emphasized European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson.

According to her, experts are ready to travel to the country, despite travel restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Kadri Simson added that at the request of the EU summit, the European Commission will study how to prevent commercial imports of electricity from the Belarusian NPP to third countries that do not meet EU standards.

Earlier, the European Council, at the initiative of Lithuania, called on the European Commission to block electricity supplies from the Belarusian nuclear power plant.

The BelNPP was officially opened on November 7. It will be finally launched in 2021-2022.

Adjustment work is currently underway. The reactor of the first power unit was shut down twice. In November - due to the need to replace Italian-made transformers that turned out to be faulty. On December 1, steam was released to test the systems.

Lithuania and the nationalist Belarusian media are constantly whipping up hysteria in connection with these working issues. In early December, the Lithuanian Ministry of Internal Affairs called on citizens to make a three-day supply of food and water in case of an accident at the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant. Lithuanian authorities purchased 4 million iodine tablets for residents of border areas.

Lithuania’s hysterical position was supported by the self-proclaimed “leader of the Belarusian people” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who is under the full control of Western intelligence services and supported by Vilnius.

Lithuania’s position is explained not by declared environmental reasons, but by purely economic reasons. Back in 2016, this Baltic republic was going to build its Visaginas nuclear power plant instead of the Soviet Ignalina nuclear power plant, which the Lithuanian authorities stopped in 2009 at the request of the European Union. However, American investors did not provide the promised funds for construction. In addition, Lithuania has invested a lot of money in a gas liquefaction plant in Klaipeda.

Through the efforts of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia refused to supply Belarusian electricity, although initially they did not want to do this. Moreover, in Estonia there is currently a critical situation with energy supplies due to the shutdown of the second reactor at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant in Finland.

Electricity prices in the republic rose to a record high of 107,42 euros per megawatt-hour. But Estonia still refuses to buy cheap electricity from Russia and Belarus.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant took 7 years to build. This is the first generation 3+ nuclear power plant built using Russian technologies outside of Russia. This project was recognized as the safest in the world, since it has two protective shells. This is recognized by the IAEA.

The operating life of the BelNPP is 60 years, with the possibility of extension up to 100 years. The first reactor launched today produces 18 billion kilowatt hours. This is 20% of the total needs of Belarus. Electricity is already supplied to all regions of the country, which allows saving gas by 1 million euros.

The NPP staff consists of 2533 people, of which 62 are specialists from Russia and Ukraine.

Russia has provided a loan of $10 billion, which covers 90% of the cost of the contract for the construction of the station. The credit line was open until 2035; repayment of the principal debt was to begin after the nuclear power plant was put into operation. In the summer, the parties agreed to postpone the start date of repayment of the principal debt by two years - from April 1, 2021 to April 1, 2023.