Belarus’ first nuclear power plant, the Astravyet station, has been operational since Tuesday making its neighbouring states fearful with the memory of nuclear power plant Chernobyl fresh in everyone’s minds.

Lithuania announced they will be boycotting all imported electricity from Belarus due to security concerns and its close proximity to the country’s capital, Vilnius. Baltic sister state Latvia has said it supports Lithuania’s decision.

Gunārs Valmanis, the executive director of the board of the Latvian Association of Electricians and Power Engineers (LEEA), said it is clear that he and the LEEA believes Latvia has no intentions of purchasing energy from the nuclear power plant in Belarus.

“We understand the concerns of Lithuania very well in Latvia, because the station is geographically very close to the Lithuanian capital and, of course, any incident that could theoretically occur at the station would mean that Lithuania is at a much higher risk.”

Lithuania’s government has raised their concerns and called its neighbouring Baltic states to do the same, as Lithuania considers the station to be dangerous. With the volatile political situation unfolding in Belarus under leader Alexander Lukashenko, and the nuclear power plant just 25 miles (40km) from Lithuania’s capital, Gunārs Valmanis believes they have a right to be anxious.

“The fact that the nuclear power plant is relatively new. The equipment may not have been tested much and run by staff who are not very experienced. This poses an indirect threat,” Valmanis said.

He does go on to reassure the nation that currently there is no news from Belarus that should give a reason for panic.

Though Latvia supports Lithuania’s cause, it also is not economically wise to purchase energy from the Belarussian plant. At present, the electricity produced by the nuclear power plant cannot compete in the Baltic energy market in terms of prices, which is currently dominated by Russian and Scandinavian producers. 

(quotes have been translated from Latvian)