IAEA ready to help Belarus operate future NPP
ASTANA. Oct 12 (Interfax) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will provide assistance to Belarus in terms of safe operation of the nuclear power plant (NPP), which is due to be built in this country.
"The IAEA position is that we do not interfere with another country's decision, since this decision must be made by the sovereign state without foreign intervention. Whether Belarus will work in the nuclear power sector and build its own NPP will entirely depend on the decision of the Belarusian government," IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano told a press conference in Astana on Wednesday.
"If Belarus decides to do so, then the IAEA is ready to help Belarus use nuclear power as safely and steadily as possible," he said.
In March 2011, Russia and Belarus signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in construction of the republic's first NPP. The Belarusian NPP will be built by Russia's Atomstroyexport. The 2.4-gigawatt plant is due to open near the village of Ostrovets in the Grodno region in 2018.