The European Parliament has voiced serious concerns over the safety of the Ostrovets nuclear plant in Belarus and demand that its commercial launch be suspended.
In a resolution adopted today, the Parliament criticised the hasty commissioning of the Ostrovets nuclear plant and the continued lack of transparency and official communication regarding the frequent emergency shutdowns of the reactor and equipment failure.
Despite outstanding safety concerns, the plant started to generate electricity on 3 November 2020 without fully implementing recommendations made in the 2018 EU peer review and by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), MEPs say, expressing their discontent with the rush to start commercial operation of the plant in March 2021.
They have called on the European Commission to work closely with the Belarusian authorities to delay launching the plant until all EU stress test recommendations are fully implemented and all the necessary safety improvements are in place.
MEPs have also urged Belarus to fully comply with international nuclear and environmental safety standards, and to cooperate with international authorities in a transparent manner.
The Ostrovets nuclear plant, built by the Russian group Rosatom, is located 50km from Vilnius (Lithuania) and is also in close proximity to Poland, Latvia and Estonia.
