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Negotiations with Russia on Belarus’ nuclear power plant project stalled

Negotiations on Russia’s participation in Belarus’ nuclear power plant project have been stalled.

Moscow has reportedly refused to sign an agreement on the project until a joint company is established to sell electricity produced by the plant.

Moscow wants Russia’s Inter RAO UES to hold no less than 50 percent in the joint company and thereby receive at least 50 percent of the sales proceeds if the construction of the two-reactor plant is financed with a Russian loan.

“The issue of the parties’ shares in the marketing enterprise can be a subject of discussion, but the timing suggested by the Russian side for its establishment is unacceptable,” an unnamed source in the Belarusian government told Interfax.

By way of compromise, Belarus proposed building one more reactor that would be fully owned by Russia, but this proposal was rejected, the source said.

Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Uladzimir Syamashka told the National Assembly on June 30 that the Belarusian-Russian deal on the construction of the nuclear power plant would be signed the following month.

The Belarusian government wants the nuclear power plant to be built in the Hrodna region near the Lithuanian border. The 2,400MW plant is projected to account for 27 to 30 percent of the total domestic electricity output. One of the plant’s two reactors was expected to be put into operation in 2016 and the other in 2018.

Russia's Atomstroiexport was selected by the Belarusian government as the prime contractor.

The construction of the plant was estimated at $6 billion and the construction of the necessary infrastructure, including housing for the plant’s personnel, power lines and access railroads, was estimated to cost an additional $3 billion.

Russia initially agreed to provide a $6-billion tied loan, but Minsk wanted the loan to be untied and amount to $9 billion.

Belarusian government officials initially said that a loan agreement would be signed in the first quarter of 2009. Later they postponed the expected date to the summer of 2009 and then to the winter, and, eventually, ceased to make any predictions.

The board of directors of Inter RAO UES is chaired by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who is known as an advocate of a harsh energy policy regarding Belarus. //BelaPAN