On the eve of the adoption and publication, expected on Tuesday 3 July, by the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) of the report on the stress test peer review on the Astravyets nuclear power plant in Belarus, Lithuania remains concerned about the safety of the installation’s two units, situated close to 20 kilometres from its border and 50 kilometres from its capital, Vilnius.
“This report, which will very probably be adopted, includes quite solid and substantial recommendations for operators”, a Lithuanian source told us on Monday 2 July, stating that the experts from 12 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary, had taken part in the peer review process.
Belarus agreed to the stress test, to which the European Commission submits all the nuclear power installations in the EU and neighbouring countries, following the accident in the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan in March 2011. The test measures how well currently operational and future installations will stand up to various risks (earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, terrorist attacks, plane crashes, etc.) and makes recommendations on the assessment of seismic safety, the safety procedures in place and management of major accidents.
“There are good grounds for future improvements but the question is how Belarus, which is not an EU country, will undertake to implement the recommendations and how the Commission will react”, our source stated, pointing out that the European countries taking part in nuclear stress tests are required to put in place national action plans for the implementation of the recommendations.
“Some recommendations are essential and key to the whole operation of the (Belarusian) plant and many of them should be implemented before it becomes operational”, our source stated.
In addition, the stress tests did not address the issues raised by Lithuania right from the start of the Belarusian project: the suitability of the site for the construction of the power plant and the assessment of the cross-border impact in terms of the environment, health and safety. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)