Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko said on April 7 said that the loan agreement on Russia's NPP financing is planned to be signed in June 2011. This timing is provided by the schedule for the NPP construction, signed by the parties in January 2011.
Vladimir Semashko recalled the meeting of finance ministers of Belarus and Russia, held in Moscow on March 22, during which the parties discussed the loan agreement and agreed to all conditions of the loan. «We expect to receive a draft credit agreement from the Russian Finance Ministry on the allocation of state credit for the NPP construction at the end of April,» said Vladimir Semashko.
Vice Prime Minister also noted that the previously signed agreement on NPP construction and the parallel operation of power systems of Russia and Belarus «opened the way for further movement on the whole complex of works on NPP construction.» Vladimir Semashko underlined that Russia and Japan highly appreciated the readiness of Belarus to build nuclear power plants. The preparatory stage of work is currently completed: a platform and infrastructure for future nuclear power plants will be created in the Astravets area, excavation work are planned to begin in early autumn, and concrete work — in the following year, BelTA informs.
Vice Prime Minister also notes that nuclear plant construction project is profitable both for Belarus and for the Russian partners. Thus, the Belarusian nuclear power station is required to diversify energy sources, and Russia, participating in the construction project, provides job for dozens of its businesses.
Meanwhile, as Telegraf previously reported, some of Belarus’s neighboring countries are opposed to nuclear plant construction. Thus, the Belarusian authorities are criticized by Lithuania, which has accused Belarus of non-compliance with the Espoo Convention, the IAEA and other international instruments in the field of nuclear safety and environmental protection.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus said on April 4 that Belarus had given exhaustive answers to all questions on Lithuania’s report on the assessment of environmental impacts of NPP, being construction in Astravets. However, Ambassador of Belarus to Lithuania Vladimir Drazhin refuted this statement, saying at a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister of Lithuania in Vilnius Evaldas Ignatavicius that Belarus admitted that the international process of evaluating the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the projected nuclear power plant in Belarus had not yet completed.
