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President Dalia Grybauskaitė, who is currently in Seoul for the Nuclear Security Summit, met with Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

President Grybauskaitė underlined that nuclear security was a priority item on Lithuania's agenda. Lithuania was acting in full compliance with all safety requirements at both the Ignalina nuclear power plant, which was being dismantled, and the planned Visaginas nuclear power plant.

“There are no problems whatsoever regarding Lithuania,” Yukiya Amano said.

According to Dalia Grybauskaitė, the people of Lithuania however were highly concerned about the safety of the nuclear power plants projected for construction in the neighboring Kaliningrad region and Belarus and well as about the fact that their construction did not conform to international conventions and standards.

“The focus and role of international organizations in ensuring the safety of the existing and planned nuclear power facilities are of utmost importance for public trust in nuclear energy. Lithuania seeks to have the same strict security standards applied to all nuclear power plants, both the neighborhood and around the world, with international organizations performing monitoring and supervision missions,” the President said.

At all international events Lithuania proposes to make nuclear safety requirements obligatory and more stringent as well as to enhance the IAEA role in monitoring commitments. At Lithuania’s initiative, last year the European Council gave a mandate to EU institutions for requesting that stress tests be carried out not only at nuclear power plants operating in the European Union, but also worldwide.

Lithuania welcomes all IAEA initiatives in this field and seeks to make IAEA site and infrastructure assessments of planned nuclear power plants obligatory and their results publicly known.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė pointed out that information about the IAEA missions and their results in Belarus and Kaliningrad would ensure a more transparent implementation of these projects. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said that he was planning to visit Belarus this coming April to discuss issues related to the construction of a nuclear power plant in Astravets, which raises some serious concerns for Lithuania.

The safety of nuclear power facilities to be built in Kaliningrad and Belarus is among the agenda items discussed at the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit.

THE IAEA WILL SUPPORT NUCLEAR SECURITY CENTER PLANNED IN LITHUANIA

President Dalia Grybauskaitė, currently attending the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit, and Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), discussed at their meeting Lithuania's initiative to establish a nuclear security center and its options for cooperative work with the IAEA.

It is expected that the center, which has the objective of strengthening counter nuclear smuggling measures, will eventually develop into a regional center.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano underlined that he strongly supported Lithuania’s initiative to set up a Center of Excellence for Nuclear Security and made an official promise to provide Lithuania with start-up and development support.

According to President Dalia Grybauskaitė, it is an important sign of international confidence in Lithuania.