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

The Lithuanian company said it would set zero capacity for power imports from Belarus to implement the so-called "anti-Astrayets" law once the power plant launches power production.

Litgrid notified market participants about the received information via the Nord Pool power exchange. The Lithuanian operator earlier informed the market that power imports from Belarus would be suspended under the aforementioned circumstances.

"As we informed earlier, upon received of information on the launch of power production or having recorded real-time production at the Astravyet nuclear power plat at the Litgrid system's control center, we will immediately set 0 MW capacity for commercial power flows from Belarus. We are closely monitoring the situation and are ready to take action," Vidmantas Grusas, acting CEO at Litgrid, said in a statement.

As stated in the Lithuanian law, the country will also halt the provision of power reserve for Belarus once the Astravyets NPP comes online.

The Department of Nuclear and Radiation Safety (Gosatomnadzor) of the Belarusian Ministry for Emergency Situations said on Friday it had granted permission for the 1st unit of the Astravyets NPP', situated near the Lithuanian border, to launch power production.

Belarus' first nuclear power plant, Astravyets will have two Russian VVER-type reactors with 1,200 MW capacity each.

The Lithuanian government says the facility has been built in violation of safety and environmental requirements, an allegation that Minsk denies.