Baltic States – CIS, Belarus, Energy, Lithuania, Nuclear power plant

"On August 6, VATESI was notified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the delivery of non-used nuclear fuel assemblies to the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant's 1st energy block has been started and they plan to start loading them into the reactor," the statement reads.

VATESI also said it had been also notified about it by the Belarusian Ministry of Emergency Situations with which Lithuania has an inter-institutional agreement on exchange of information.

VATESI says this information has been handed over to Lithuanian institutions.

Loading of nuclear fuel assemblies is a key stage for the launch of the nuclear facility's 1st block, VATESI said. This step will be followed by the reactor's physical, energy and pilot industrial use.

According to VATESI, Lithuania's raised questions on the Astravyets NNP's environmental and nuclear safety remain unanswered, and also the recommendations presented by international and IAEA experts following stress-tests have not been implemented either, especially on extreme seismic events and emergency prevention, which is unacceptable.