Independent journalist not let to nuclear power plant’s construction site

A journalist could not get to the construction site of the Astravets’ nuclear power station despite having all the necessary documents.

A Radio Svaboda’s correspondent Mikhail Karnevich received official permission to make a report about the construction of the station. But when he came to Astravets, he found out that he would not be able to visit the construction site.

“I addressed the press-service of the Ministry of Energy of Belarus and found, what document I needed to submit in order to obtain a permission. The press-secretary sent me to the Nuclear Power Plant Construction Directorate. There they offered me to fill in a model application with my data for the head of the department of special security V.Latypau and also submit an appeal on an editorial office’s letter-head to the director of the plant’s construction M.Filimonau”, - he tells.

The journalist got the response only in two weeks. He was informed that he would be able to visit the construction site of the Astravets nuclear power plant, provided he specifies whom exactly he wanted to talk to.

When the journalist arrived to Astravets, he found that he would not be able to visit the construction site. An employee of the power plant’s information center suddenly said that a paper from the Ministry of Energy was missing and forbad him to enter the construction site.

We would remind that specialists in nuclear energy repeatedly called on the authorities to refuse from constructing a power plant in Astravets.