Roundup: Lithuania demands explanations on reported incident at Astravets nuclear power plant

Lithuanian foreign ministry on Thursday summoned Belarusian ambassador and handed him a diplomatic note on a reported incident at the construction site of the Astravets nuclear power plant in neighboring Belarus.

The diplomatic steps were taken "immediately after the Belarusian media reported that the structural frame of the would-be Astravets nuclear power plant had collapsed," the Lithuanian foreign ministry said.

The note requested the Belarusian side to "promptly provide information about this accident as well as about other accidents which could have happened since the beginning of the construction works" at the Astravets nuclear power plant, which is located 50 km away from Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.

Belarusian website belsat.eu, citing workers from the construction site, has earlier reported that the structural frame of a nuclear service building collapsed in mid-April.

Belarusian embassy told Lithuanian BNS news agency they had no information about the incident.

Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevicius said that in the note the country has reiterated its requirements for Belarus to conduct stress-tests of the power plant in accordance with European standards and with presence of international experts.

"We've already said that we would do everything using commercial and technical means in order not to purchase electricity from this insecure project," Linkevicius told the government meeting on Thursday.

"We've been constantly raising these issues at the European Commission, and it should be priority, as we've been promised," he added noting that he Astravets nuclear power plant is not a mutual problem between Lithuanian and Belarus but an issue for the whole European Commission.

The small Baltic State has been rebelling against the construction of the Astravets nuclear power plant in neighboring Belarus since the start of its construction claiming the project is insecure. Lithuanian authorities fear that the country's capital would be exposed to contamination risks in the case of a nuclear accident.

Lithuanian energy minister Rokas Masiulis said the accident has reaffirmed Lithuania's fears that constructions works at Astravets have been carried out violating international safety standards.

"This is a vital issue for Lithuania. We have to do whatever it takes," Masiulis was quoted as saying by Lithuanian national radio LRT.

The energy minister said electricity produced at Astravets power plant could be banned from trading at the electricity market or physically blocked from entering power connections at Lithuanian border.

Lithuania and Belarus belong to BRELL energy ring, which also includes Russia, Latvia and Estonia.

The launch of the first unit of the Astravets nuclear power plant is scheduled for 2018 with the second reactor to be launched in 2019, according to Lithuanian media reports. Endit