Belarus to Strengthen Borders Near Astravets NPP

New border posts are aimed to strengthen borders near the first Belarusian nuclear plant.

The chief of the Smarhon border group Aliaksandr Markevich said on the OHT TV channel on May 29, Interfax reports.

It was initially planned to settle two mobile border points.

"Later it was decided to make them permanent. The presidential decree names them as Maladzechna and Astravets border points," Markevich said.

In his words, they have been already formed, but now are deployed in a former library and rural club. The construction site is a few kilometers away. Maladzechna border point is four kilometers away from the border, he specified.

The Chairman of the State Border Committee of Belarus Leanid Maltsau says new border points will be put into service in 2017.

"The first power unit of the Belarusian NPP is promised to put into service in 2018. Border points nearby will operate a year earlier. This time is aimed to improve work of border guards," he said.

As reported earlier, Vologda branch of AO AEM Technologies (a part of Rosatom-Atomenergomash) accomplished assembly of the RPV of the second power unit of the Astravets NPP.

The Sejm of Lithuania has recently adopted the resolution on possible hazard of the Astravets NPP for Lithuania.

Official Vilnius repeatedly emphasized Lithuania did not intend to buy electricity of the Belarusian NPP. Lithuania thinks that the construction of the station breaks requirements of the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment, which involves assessment of impact on the environment both in and out of the country.