- Title: Lithuania drills for nuclear emergency as Belarus plant nears completion
- Date: 2nd October 2019
- Summary: GRODNO REGION, BELARUS (FILE - 2019) (REUTERS) TRUCK PASSING ON ROAD BY CONSTRUCTION SITE OF ASTRAVETS NUCLEAR PLANT VARIOUS OF CRANES AROUND COOLING TOWER UNDER CONSTRUCTION
- Embargoed: 16th October 2019 15:33
- Keywords: Astravets nuclear plant Lithuania nuclear emergency drills Lithuania Belarus relations
- Location: MAGUNAI AND SVENCIONYS, LITHUANIA / MINSK AND GRODNO REGION, BELARUS
- City: MAGUNAI AND SVENCIONYS, LITHUANIA / MINSK AND GRODNO REGION, BELARUS
- Country: Lithuania
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002AZEM2IH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Lithuania carried out drills in case of a nuclear emergency in areas along its border with Belarus on Wednesday (October 2) as a controversial power plant nears completion across the border.
School students stood in as evacuees from the area and were supplied with sweets posing as iodine pills.
After travelling by bus to a different location, the students 'decontaminated' themselves under the direction of workers in protective suits and face masks.
Local residents taking part in the drills said they were worried about the position of the Astravets nuclear plant, close to the border and only 50 kilometres (31 miles) from Vilnius.
The Astravets plant has long been viewed as a threat to its safety and national security by Lithuania, which says it is not built to the highest safety standards, an allegation which is denied by Belarus.
The plant has also been the focus of protests by activists and the opposition within Belarus, one of the countries worst affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.
Irina Sukhiy, an ecologist from Belarusian NGO Ecodom, said safety recommendations by European inspectors should be implemented before Astravets starts operating, and not afterwards, as she said was planned.
The plant is being built by Russia's Atomstroyexport and financed with a $10 billion loan from by Moscow.
(Production: Eugenijus Kryzanovskis, Anton Derbenev, Lewis Macdonald) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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