Three persons, not ten, lose lives at Belarus NPP construction - Deputy Energy Minister
Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadzyuk has refuted activist Mikalai Ulasevich’s statement that 10 persons lost lives during the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant in Astravets.
According to the top official, ‘only three people’ were killed at the construction site.
“Mass media reported that ten people died. But it is not true. There have been ten accidents during the construction for all these years. On such a scale of construction, when has over 5,000 people are working at more than 100 facilities, the human factor, unfortunately, sometimes plays out,” the deputy minister said.
Those three accidents occurred due to the fault of the workers, Mikhadzyuk stressed.
“One accident happened because the worker failed to secure the load. Another accident was caused by personal negligence of the victim – he went down the stairs, slipped, fell, and, unfortunately, was fatally injured. The third case was a fall from height – the worker did not buckle up alhough he had fall protection harness,” he explained.
At the same time the construction of the Belarusian NPP will not be suspended, First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Iya Malkina said at a press conference after the second round of bilateral consultations the Belarusian and Lithuanian experts.
The Belarusian NPP in Astravets is being constructed by Russia’s nuclear corporation Rosatom.
The NPP first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018, the second one – in 2020. The construction of two nuclear reactors is provided in the agreement reached by Belarus and Russia, the reactors being supplied by Atomstroyexport, Russia. The project faced opposition at home and abroad on both safety and political grounds.
Lithuania is the main critic of the idea of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, which is only 20 km from the border and 50 km from Vilnius. Minsk rejects Lithuania’s claims, arguing that nuclear power plants will have high safety standards. Vilnius asked Brussels for involvement of the European Union in the matter.
On 8 April 2016, there was a collapse of the structural frame of the would-be nuclear service building at Astravets NPP, of which Belsat.eu was informed in early May.
At first, the authorities denied our report saying that there had not been any incidents at the construction site. State-run mass media remained silent as well. After the publication Lithuania summoned Belarus’ ambassador and handed him a diplomatic note demanding explanation over the incident.
As reported earlier, during installation the enclosure of the future reactor fell from the height of 2 – 4 meters at the construction site of the Belarusian NPP in Astravets.
At the moment, Belarus and Russia are discussing technical aspects of replacing the compromised reactor vessel for the Belarusian nuclear power plant.
belsat.eu, following BelaPAN
