He would not hesitate to give the go-ahead for the construction of a second nuclear power plant in Belarus, the Belarusian leader said at a meeting with students and faculty at Belarusian State Agricultural and Technical University.
“If I had a chance to launch the construction of the second nuclear power plant now, I would definitely do it. However, we have neither contractor, nor money, no country that would provide us with a construction loan. But we have a construction site,” state-controlled news agency BelTA quotes the President as saying.
“Do not listen to those who say that we do not need this plant because of Chernobyl and so on. This is the campaign against the project. Our plant and the Russian one in Kaliningrad is a bone in the throat for the EU and the Baltic states. They have missed the boat. They have been struggling to launch their own nuclear project. But they are already no competition to us and will have to buy electricity from us and Russia,” he said.
According to him, this is a competition. “They have mobilized our fifth column to campaign against the nuclear power plant project,” added the head of state.
Touching upon safety fears, Mr. Lukashenka said that Belarus was already surrounded by a “chain” of nuclear power plants. “We are already living in this dangerous zone. So what would be better: if [nuclear power] plants are built around us and we look at others’ plants, or if we build a plant of our own?” he said.
European Union member states continue building nuclear power facilities but “don’t want us to build a modern nuclear power plant and be their competitors,” according to Mr. Lukashenka. “Moreover, they are losing markets for their products. And if electricity is cheaper, our goods will also be cheaper,” he said.
Belsat, following BelaPAN
