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Lithuania calls on neighbors not to buy electricity from N-plants in Belarus, Kaliningrad

BC, Vilnius, 06.01.2016.Print version
Lithuania urges the neighboring countries not to buy electricity from the nuclear power plants being built in Belarus and Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, reported BNS/LETA.

To this end, Energy Minister Rokas Masiulis has invited the economy and energy ministers of Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Finland to discuss purchase of electricity from the third countries building nuclear facilities that are considered unsafe.


“The clear signal must be sent that electricity, which is produced by violating international regulations on nuclear safety, security and transboundary environmental impact assessment, will not be accepted in the EU. Therefore, it is necessary without any delay to discuss this issue in depth, primarily on the regional and ultimately on the EU level, and develop solutions necessary to ensure a level playing field for electricity trade with these countries,” a letter sent by Masiulis on Dec. 23 said.


According to the minister, the nuclear power facilities under construction in Russia’s Kaliningrad Region and in Belarus posed threats to the environment and created unfair competition in the market for electricity.


“One question must be approached with great attention: the electricity trade with third countries taking into account the ongoing or planned dubious nuclear power plant constructions in Belarus and Kaliningrad Region – just on the borders of the EU. These projects are being implemented under the essentially different regulatory and political conditions and pose a number of critical threats in terms of nuclear and environmental safety as well as unfair competition of electricity production to the neighboring EU countries,” Masiulis said in the letter.


Lithuania has repeatedly questioned the safety of the nuclear power plant being built near the town of Astravyets, Belarus, at a distance of meager 50 kilometers from Vilnius. Masiulis said in December that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia could agree on a tax system, which would help prevent the supply of electricity from the Astravyets nuclear power plant in Belarus to the three Baltic countries.


He then said that the countries should consider this option if the construction of the nuclear facility in the neighboring country continued in disregard for international requirements.

A bilateral trade and economic cooperation commission discussed the issue of the Astravyets plant at its meeting in Minsk in mid-November. Lithuanian Environment Minister Kestutis Treciokas then told BNS that Lithuania had called on Belarus to invite a mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency to assess the Astravyets site, which is recommended by the Espoo Convention.


Concerned over Belarus' actions and a lack of information about the nuclear power plant project, Lithuania turned to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee last March. The committee concluded in June that Belarus had breached the provisions of the convention and that the environmental impact assessment process had to be continued and answers to Lithuania's questions had to be provided.


The Implementation Committee (Espoo Convention) has said the Astravyets nuclear power plant does not meet the convention requirements. Lithuania has repeatedly slammed Belarus for failure to ensure the security of its nuclear facility, despite its proximity to the Lithuanian capital.






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