EXPLOSIONS reportedly halted electricity generation at Belarus’s first nuclear power plant — a day after it was opened in a ceremony by embattled President Alexander Lukashenko.
A number of voltage transformers are said to have blown at the Russian-built plant — which neighbouring Lithuania fears could spark a Chernobyl-style radiation catastrophe.
The transformers blew on Sunday, reports the Times– quoting a source who spoke to independent news website Tut.by.
Officials stressed there was no safety risk, but admitted power generation stopped at the Astravyets plant.
Oleg Sobolev, a consultant at the Belarus Emergency Ministry’s department of nuclear and radiation safety, said: “The turbine is stopped.
“There is indeed no electricity generation at the nuclear power plant.
“But this does not affect nuclear and radiation safety.”
It came just a day after the plant was inaugurated by Lukashenko – whose refusal to call fresh elections has prompted months of protests.
He trumpeted it a breakthrough for the former Soviet state, which bore the brunt of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine.
It was built by Russian state energy firm Rosatom with a $10bn loan from Russia, following years of delays and disputes.
That painful legacy of Chernobyl fuelled opposition to the nuclear power project in Belarus.
Politician Andrei Sannikov – who was jailed for running against Lukashenko in the 2010 election – tweeted about the new plant: “The bomb is not only ticking, it’s damaged and extremely dangerous.”
Construction was halted in 2016 when a 330-ton reactor shell fell while being installed – although that only came to light when a whistleblower posted information online. Rosatom denies the severity of the incident.
There are also fears an earthquake could rock the reactor site, as it did in 1908.
A study published in 1993 by Belarusian scientists said tectonic activity in the Astravyets region put it among the most dangerous of 28 possible locations for a nuclear plant.
Rosatom questioned the credibility of the report.
Lithuania also fiercely opposed the plant, just ten miles from its border and 25 miles from the capital Vilnius.
It fears Soviet-style secrecy around the project and a history of accidents could lead to disaster – such as radiation contaminating drinking water for a third of its 2.8million people.
Officials have even distributed iodine tablets – which help prevent radiation sickness – to people living near the border.
Lithuania closed its sole Soviet-built nuclear power plant in 2009, and stopped taking electricity from Belarus when the new plant went online.
Foreign minister Linas Linkevicius said: “The EU and the whole international community cannot stay indifferent to such cynical ignorance.”
Most read in News
Rosatom has rejected the Lithuanian complaints, saying the plant’s modern design conforms to the highest international standards as confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
A spokesman said: “The commissioning stage, which is currently underway at unit 1 of the plant, is designed to test equipment when the reactor power output is gradually increased and reduced back to zero multiple times.
“The absence of power supply to the grid does not imply any emergency or incidents. One of the tests has revealed the need to replace electrical measuring gear (voltage transformers), which is a routine procedure at the commissioning stage.
“The replacement has nothing to do with the ‘nuclear island’ of the plant and has no connection whatsoever to the nuclear and radiation safety of the plant or its personnel.
“The IAEA ‘INES’ scale of nuclear safety events has a clear definition of an ‘accident’ or ‘incident’. There have been no accidents, incidents or nuclear safety reportable events, as defined by the IAEA, on the site.
“The commissioning of the plant is progressing as scheduled and tests of auxiliary non-nuclear equipment continue.”
