10 Jul (NucNet): The Belarus nuclear power plant under construction at Ostrovets is in non-compliance with the provisions of the Espoo Convention, the parties of the Convention have decided at a meeting in Geneva from 2 to 5 June 2014.
The decision resulting from the meeting says that Belarus was in non-compliance with the Espoo Convention* when it began construction of the nuclear power plant and requests Belarus to cooperate with Lithuania in achieving compliance.
Belarus has been asked by the parties of the Espoo Convention to take into consideration raised by Lithuania and that it should approach the International Atomic Energy Agency for an independent assessment of the nuclear power plant site.
The non-compliance with the Convention will be further discussed at a meeting of the Implementation Committee of the Espoo Convention.
A report in April 2013 said Belarus approved the location of the Ostrovets site for up to two new reactors without taking into account the requirements of the Espoo Convention.
The report also said Lithuania was not formally consulted and Belarus did not include the reasons and considerations on which the site selection was based, and it did not take due account of Lithuania’s comments.
In July 2012, Russia and Belarus signed the construction contract for two new Russian reactors at Ostrovets at an estimated total cost of 10 billion US dollars (about 7.6 billion euros), state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom said.
According to Rosatom, construction works for the first unit of the Belarus nuclear plant were around 10 percent completed by early July 2014.
* The Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context is a United Nations convention signed in Espoo, Finland, in 1991. It sets out obligations for signatories to carry out an environmental impact assessment on certain projects at an early stage of planning. It also lays down the general obligation of states to notify and consult each other on all major projects under consideration that could have “a significant adverse environmental impact across boundaries”.
