Astravets Nuclear Power Plant
On 22 December 1992, Belarus announced its intention to build nuclear power plants and started a program to examine 15 possible sites.[12] However, in mid 2006, the Government of Belarus approved a plan for the construction of an initial 2000 MWe nuclear power plant in the Mahilyow Voblast using pressurized water reactors technology.[26] In June 2012 the construction of the foundation pit for the nuclear power plant started near the small village of Shulniki in Astravets District, Hrodna Region, some 16 km (10 mi) from the Lithuanian border.In March 2013 Radio Svaboda's correspondent Mikhail Karnevich received official permission to make a report about the construction of the power plant.After being transported by barge over the Tsimlyansk Reservoir, the Volga–Don Canal, the Volga–Baltic Waterway, and the Volkhov River to Novgorod, the reactor was then shipped by a special rail car to the Astravyets railway station near the plant.[46] The preparation, design and exploration works were overseen by a Directorate for the Construction of a Nuclear Power Plant, established under the Ministry of Energy.[16] Scientific support for the project is provided by the United Power & Nuclear Research Institute Sosny of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.[54] In 2016, the European Parliamentary Research Service noted the construction of the NPP has sparked international concern, particularly from Lithuania, which has accused Belarus of violating the United Nations' Espoo and Aarhus Conventions.The European Union has also called on Belarus to ensure the highest international safety standards and conduct stress tests for the NPP, in line with its commitments made after the Fukushima nuclear accident.[58] On 11 February 2021, the European Parliament has adopted a resolution expressing serious concerns over the safety of the Ostrovets nuclear plant and has called for the suspension of its commercial launch.The Parliament criticized the hasty commissioning of the plant and the lack of transparency regarding the frequent emergency shutdowns of the reactor and equipment failures.[59][60] In December 2021, investigative journalists, citing Cyber Partisans, announced that they had received documents where 18 thousand shortcomings of the first power unit were identified.[61] On 8 April 2016, an excessive amount of concrete for the plant's foundations was poured, resulting in the structural frame breaking down and its components collapsing.