Lithuania did not inform Belarus about the accident at Ignalina NPP

About three hundred tons of high-activity liquid released during the NPP deactivation works.

The incident occurred on October, 5 at Unit 1 of Ignalina NPP which had been stopped six years before, “Belarus news” reports.

According to eyewitnesses, personnel and premises of the plant were exposed to radiation. Belarus was not officially informed about the incident because, according to the Lithuanian side, the pollution did not spread beyond the plant site.

In the Ministry of Nature of Belarus are not satisfied with such information, although according to the Center of Radiation Control and Environmental Monitoring in Belarus, the decrease of radiation background was not registered on the territory of Belarus.

As the spokesperson of the plant Daiva Rimašauskaitė writes at the site of INPP answering to visitors’ questions, “On October 5, 2010 depressurization and leak of one-percent nitric acid and potassium permanganate occurred outside the circuit in one of the components during the decontamination. No chemical reagents and materials contaminated with radioactive nuclides were spread outside the controlled zone of INPP”.

Rokas Žilinskas, the Chairman of the Seim Commission of Lithuania on nuclear power, informed: “As a result, the incident did not harm people or the environment. The international community was immediately informed. We are currently investigating the causes of the incident, in order not to repeat the occurred situation during the decommissioning of the second unit of Ignalina NPP. We will inform about the results of the investigation in the nearest future”.

Heorhi Lepin, doctor of technical sciences, professor, a specialist in the field of nuclear energy in Belarus, commented: “The fact that the information was hidden for a long time and the time of the incident is not clearly identified, once again confirms the common desire of nuclear power to hide any trouble, regularly appearing at nuclear power plants. Already the mere fact that three hundred cubic meters of radioactive liquid released to the workshop premises confirms an environmental hazard of the incident”.