Government introduces special rules for areas near nuclear facilities 

October 17, Pozirk. The Council of Ministers Directive No 668 has established new rules for accessing areas adjacent to the Belarusian nuclear power plant (NPP) and a nuclear research facility on the outskirts of Minsk, according to a document published on the National Legal Internet Portal.

The government authorized security forces to prevent any illegal actions in these areas, including by carrying out ID checks and searches as well as detaining trespassers for up to three hours.

Authorization is now required to take pictures of the NPP’s guards, protection facilities and special cargo with nuclear fuel. New rules prohibit parking outside populated areas and holding mass events in the vicinity of the nuclear facilities. Armed persons, including hunters, are banned from these areas except for local residents with the appropriate permits. The government also banned crops growing crops taller than one meter.

Located near Astraviec, Hrodna region, some 10 miles off the Lithuanian border, the Belarusian NPP has been designed by Russia’s Rosatom and built with a Russian loan. Lithuania views the plant as unsafe and describes it as a “geopolitical weapon.”