NGOs from Lithuania, Russia to monitor environmental impact of Belarus’ NPP

         Environmental organizations from Lithuania and Russia have joined the public monitoring of the environmental impact of the Belarusians nuclear power plant. The Belarusian public association Environmental Initiative concluded a cooperation agreement with two foreign NGOs – the Institute for Regional Development and Democracy (Lithuania) and the Interregional Public Environmental Movement Oka (Russia) during a roundtable session to present the project “Public monitoring of the environmental impact of the Belarusian NPP”.
        The partner organizations will share best practices in environmental monitoring of nuclear energy installations and carry out joint examination of the radiation level near the nuclear power plant in Ostrovets. 
       According to head of the Environmental Initiative organization Yuri Solovyov, the IAEA and other reputable organizations admitted that the design of the Belarusian NPP developed by the Russian company Atomenergoproekt is among the world’s safest. “Therefore, one of our major objectives today is to conduct the public monitoring of the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant and to implement all the safety measures stipulated by the design estimates,” he emphasized. The information about the results of the public monitoring will be available by mid-November.