Belarus Hopes to Sell Power to Russia After Commissioning Nuclear Plant

Text of report by Belarusian human rights group Charter-97 website on 6 September

Belarus is considering the possibility of exports of the electricity that will be produced by a Belarusian nuclear power plant to compensate natural gas costs, a deputy chairman of the Belarusian National Academy of Sciences, Uladzimir Tsimashpolski, said at a news conference in Minsk today.

“We are considering the issue of exporting the electricity that will be produced by the nuclear power plant to Russia in order to compensate an increase in prices for imported natural gas,” Tsimashpolski said.

According to him, Belarus hopes that the electricity that will be produced by the nuclear power plant will account for at least 10 per cent in the fuel and energy balance.

[In a separate report at 1045 gmt, Charter-97 quoted Tsimashpolski as saying in an interview with the Interfax news agency that Belarus is considering the construction of its nuclear power plant in Hrodna Region, close to the border with Lithuania, among other two-three sites. "The question is why Lithuania wants to bury waste from the Ignalina nuclear power plant near Belarus's border. We should also consider a possibility for constructing nuclear facilities in this region," the website quoted Tsimashpolski as telling Interfax. In a report at 1057 gmt, the Interfax-West news agency quoted Tsimashpolski as saying that the nuclear power plant will be most likely constructed in Mahilyow Region. "I think there will be no changes and the plant will be constructed in that (Mahilyow) region," the agency quoted him as saying.]

Originally published by Charter-97 website, Minsk, in Russian 6 Sep 07.

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