DISINFO: Belarus proved the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant is safe
SUMMARY
Lithuanian politicians regularly protest against the construction of the Nuclear Power Plant [in Belarus]. Despite the proof from the Belarusian side that the power station is safe and complete transparency about the matter of its functioning, Lithuanian parliament even discussed the possibility to ban the energy import from the Belarusian NPP.
RESPONSE
A recurring Kremlin-backed narrative concerning the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant (NPP) in Astravets. Lithuania opposes construction of the Astravets Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) as the project does not comply with the international standards of environmental protection and nuclear safety, and is built on the site that was not duly justified over the alternative ones. Serious concerns about the safety of the Astravets Nuclear Power Plant remain. On 7 June 2011, Lithuania lodged a complaint with the Implementing Committee of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment (the Espoo Convention) on the Astravets nuclear power plant case. In February 2019 the Meeting of the Parties of the Espoo Convention adopted the decision, which acknowledged that Belarus had failed to comply with some Convention provisions regarding site selection and encouraged Belarus and Lithuania to continue bilateral expert consultations. In August 2019 the Pre-Operational Safety Review Team (Pre-OSART) from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) made several recommendations aimed at strengthening operational safety in a timely manner to assure operational readiness and promised to submit the final report to the Belarusian Government within three months. See earlier disinformation cases alleging that Lithuania fights against Belarusian NPP on the orders of Sweden and Finland, Dalia Grybauskaitė's opposition to the NPP is an attempt to hide Lithuania's own failures in nuclear power, that the "Chernobyl" series aimed to discredit the Belarusian power plant and Belarus-Russia relations and that Western-financed environmental NGOs in Belarus stage a big campaign against Rosatom and Russia.