OREANDA-NEWS. July 31, 2008.  Belarus tightly cooperates with IAEA experts in matters relating to the development of nuclear power engineering in the country, Viktor Gaisenok, Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus, told a press conference on July 31.

“If we build the nuclear station, and our intention is clearly formulated, we will have to allow the IAEA to control it,” stressed the official. He added, the agency will control and provide essential support as the nuclear station is built.

Among joint Belarus-IAEA projects Viktor Gaisenok mentioned cooperation for developing the human resources potential for the nuclear energy in Belarus as well as an analysis of the power generation grid with a view to plugging the nuclear station into it.

The official reminded, two IAEA missions had visited Belarus lately and given recommendations concerning the safety and the choice of the location of the future nuclear power plant. Belarus is working on a nuclear energy utilisation bill and the IAEA has directly participated in it with a relevant expert evaluation.

In turn, UN/UNDP representative Antonius Broek pointed out that cooperation between Belarus and the IAEA is active and said he was confident it will continue. “Belarus’ standards for the atomic station meet international ones and may even exceed them,” he said.