IAEA Chief responded whether Belarus can help ensure safety of Kursk and Zaporozhye nuclear power plants
Answering journalists’ questions, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi explained whether Belarus can help ensure the safety of the Kursk and Zaporozhye nuclear power plants, BelTA reports
The IAEA Director General said that the agency’s specialists are currently present at the Zaporozhye NPP. “First of all, we need the support of all IAEA member states for our actions. Belarus is a very important participant in the agency, so the support (including from Belarus) of our actions is vital,” Rafael Grossi stressed. According to him, in the future, when the situation stabilises and the process of peaceful settlement begins, Belarus and the agency ‘will be able to take a more active part in joint work to settle the existing problems’.
Speaking about what steps the IAEA would like Belarus to take in terms of ensuring regional nuclear safety, the head of the atomic agency stressed that this should primarily be close work between Belarus and the BelNPP itself with the IAEA, as well as clear and consistent implementation of all recommendations and conditions. According to him, this will send a signal to both neighbouring countries and states in other parts of the world that Belarus is a reliable country that implements all necessary recommendations and implements all necessary measures to ensure nuclear safety.
One of the questions to the IAEA Chief concerned the situation at the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania and the plans of this country to build a nuclear burial ground. The journalist noted that Belarus is concerned about the actions of neighbouring Lithuania, which has stopped the access of Belarusian specialists to the Ignalina NPP to monitor the situation, and now has also announced plans to build a nuclear burial ground there.
“Of course, we are aware of the mutual concerns of the Belarusian and Lithuanian sides. Therefore, in this context, it is necessary to have an organisation such as the IAEA that would provide an objective approach and an objective assessment of what is really happening. It would be an assessment based not on any political preferences, but on expertise and real expert knowledge. These are the approaches that could be proposed as a solution to the disputes that exist between the countries,” Rafael Grossi replied.
