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Grybauskaite expects Germany to back Lithuania on Astravyets NPP

BC, Vilnius, 21.04.2016.Print version
President Dalia Grybauskaite expects that Germany will support Lithuania in its efforts to raise concern about the safety of Belarus' nuclear power plant under construction in Astravyets, some 50 kilometers from Vilnius, informs LETA/BNS.

"Here, as well as in New York, where I am going, we speak about the need to ensure nuclear energy safety, especially in power plants here in Europe, in our vicinity, because the security of the whole region depends on this. As far as I know, Germany supports us, because the country itself has made a decision to phase out nuclear power," she told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday when asked what support she expected from Chancellor Angela Merkel regarding the Astravyets project.

 

According to Grybauskaite, Germany supports the position of Lithuania and other countries that the Astravyets project must comply with the Espoo Convention standards and that the project has to be inspected by experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

 

Lithuania is the most ardent critic of Belarus' nuclear power plant project. Concerned over a lack of information about the project, Lithuania turned to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, which concluded last June that Belarus had breached the provisions of the convention.

 

The Espoo Convention member states have announced that the Astravyets nuclear power plant does not meet the convention requirements.

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The BNS journalist's trip to Berlin was partly paid for by the Lithuanian President's Office. This has no impact upon the content of the report.






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