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Official dismisses independent experts’ findings about environmental impact of Belarus’ nuclear power plant

An official of the environmental protection ministry has dismissed as not serious findings of independent experts about the possible impact of the country’s nuclear power plant on the local environment.

“We cannot take the conclusions of the public’s environmental assessment of the impact of the nuclear power plant as serious,” Alyaksandr Andreyew, a departmental head at the ministry, told BelaPAN on Monday.

“Their conclusions are not justified well,” he said, noting that the information criticized by the experts had “not been questioned during consultations about the document with representatives of interested countries.”

Only officials of the environmental protection ministry will be involved in the state procedure of assessing the impact of the plant and approving the report, Mr. Andreyew added.

An independent commission of 15 environmental experts representing Belarus, Russia and Ukraine unveiled its findings this past March, denouncing the nuclear project as unacceptable.