Lithuanian official requires independent probing into incident in Belarusian nuclear power plant

Lithuanian Energy Minister Rokas Masiulis said on Tuesday that a reactor in Belarusian nuclear power plant should not be put into operation without independent investigation into the construction incident in the power plant earlier in July.

The minister has reacted to the new information about the incident that happened on July 10 in Astravets nuclear power plant which is being built near the border between Lithuania and Belarus.

Due to crane failure, the nuclear reactor vessel became unbalanced and slowly slipped down from four meter height, according to the ministry.

"There cannot be any discussions about further installation works of the reactor vessel, until a comprehensive investigation is carried out," Masiulis said in a press release from the ministry.

Russia's state nuclear company Rosatom, the prime contractor of the construction of the Astravets power plant, said that the vessel was moving toward the ground at a pedestrian's speed, and claimed that the incident caused no consequence to the equipment.

"The company has made the reactor itself, therefore it has no interest in objectively investigating the damage being caused to the reactor vessel," said Masiulis, noting that the investigation should be independent.

The Baltic state has been rebelling against the construction of the Astravets nuclear power plant in neighboring Belarus since the start, claiming the project is insecure.

The construction site is around 50 km away from Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. Lithuanian authorities fear that the country's capital would be exposed to contamination in the case of a nuclear accident.

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