BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

06/09/2007

Belarusian nuclear power plant likely to be built in Mogilyov region

MINSK. Sept 6 (Interfax) - The construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus will most likely take place in the Mogilyov region, Vladimir Timoshpolsky, a deputy chairman of the presidium of the Belarusian National Academy of Sciences, said at a press conference in Minsk on Thursday.

Commenting on a recent statement by the Belarusian nuclear watchdog on the low quality of soil at the Krasnopolyanskaya site, Timoshpolsky said this could increase the cost for the nuclear power plant's construction.

Belarus is also analyzing the possibility of building a nuclear power plant in the Grodno region near the border with Lithuania, Timoshpolsky said.

"We originally considered 54 promising sites and ultimately narrowed it down to 2-3 sites. These are the Krasnopolyanskaya and Kukshinovskaya sites, and the one in western Belarus, near the border with Lithuania," he said.

"It is a good question why Lithuania wants to bury wastes from the Ignalina nuclear power plant near the Belarusian border. We should also consider the possibility of building nuclear facilities in that region," he said.

Timoshpolsky admitted that politics might influence Belarus's choice of a site for a nuclear power plant, "but what counts most is the level of safety of the NPP."

Source:

http://www.interfax.com/3/310548/news.aspx