Ukrainian authorities, following Lithuanian authorities, attack the Belarusian nuclear power plant
And about. Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Vitrenko said that in 2022, the unified energy system of Ukraine will be separated from the energy systems of Belarus and Russia. It is this year that the second unit of the Belarusian NPP is planned to be put into operation.
The government was supported by the group “For Democratic Belarus” in the Verkhovna Rada, created by the controversial deputy Alexei Goncharenko.
“We turned to the IAEA regarding the Belarusian NPP. While Lukashenko is in power, you cannot trust a single word of the Belarusian regime,” Goncharenko wrote in his Telegram channel.
In their appeal, Ukrainian deputies ask to check the technical condition of the nuclear power plant, “data on failures, accidents and damage” as well as “leaks of radioactive substances.”
The IAEA delegation inspected the Belarusian NPP a year ago in 19 areas and saw “five positive experiences that could be used by other countries.”
In addition, in February, the Belarusian station was inspected by experts from the European Nuclear Safety Regulatory Group (ENSERG) and made a positive assessment.
However, this does not interest Ukrainian deputies, who do not hide the fact that they support Lithuania’s position seeking a boycott of the BelNPP. But if Vilnius does this for economic reasons, then Kyiv is “shooting itself in the foot,” since Ukraine really needs electricity supplies from Belarus.
In early February, Ukraine turned to Belarus with a request for emergency supplies of electricity due to accidents at two thermal power plants. The volume of supplies amounted to 500 megawatts.
Experts predict that due to the deplorable state of the Ukrainian energy sector, the need for Belarusian supplies will only increase. In 2030, the majority of nuclear power units in Ukraine will almost exhaust their resources.
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. The first reactor produces 18 billion kilowatt hours. This is 20% of the total needs of Belarus. Russia has provided a loan of $10 billion, which covers 90% of the cost of the contract for the construction of the station. Recently, loan terms have been relaxed.
Ukrainian authorities, following Lithuanian ones, are attacking the Belarusian nuclear power plant.