The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania sent a note of protest to Minsk with a demand to immediately stop the Belarusian nuclear power plant until all nuclear safety issues identified by international missions are resolved, LRT writes.

Lithuania took such steps in response to information that Belarus is preparing to connect the second unit of the nuclear power plant to the grid, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania reported on March 31.

"Belarus' preparation for the launch of the second power unit of the nuclear power plant, which has defects, the concealment of incidents and defects from the public, the threats of the Russian president to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus speak of the irresponsible behavior of dictatorial regimes in relation to nuclear energy and represent a nuclear threat to the entire region," — said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielus Landsbergis.

As noted in the message of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, the Bel NPP project "still has many unresolved safety issues, such as the impact on the environment and the population of Lithuania, safety culture and compliance with international recommendations.

On March 9, Lithuanian intelligence said that Belarus and Rosatom hid incidents and defects in the reactor systems of the first and second power units of the Belarusian nuclear power plant last year.

In April 2022, the first power unit of the Bel NPP was shut down for scheduled repairs, but the defects discovered during the repairs were not reported, the intelligence report noted.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania stated that they see the risk that technical defects will occur at the station even after the commissioning of the second power plant.

The Ministry of Energy of Belarus rejected the Lithuanian intelligence report, calling it a "targeted action to discredit the Bel NPP", and assured that in 2022 the plant underwent planned repair work that met all the requirements of supervisory bodies and international norms.

According to the department, during the scheduled repairs at the first power plant, metal equipment and pipelines were inspected, but they did not find "any defect that poses a threat to nuclear and radiation safety."

The second power unit of the Bel NPP is planned to be put into operation in the second half of 2023, the Ministry of Energy reported.

On March 25, according to the Ministry of Energy, the second power unit of the Bel NPP was brought to the minimally controlled power level - 1% of the nominal one.