A message appeared on the website of the Astravyets nuclear plant, saying the facility's workers are "breaking the silence" over safety concerns and hushed up incidents at the plant. The Belarusian Energy Ministry later claimed the website was hacked.
“We, the workers of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, take great risks to post this text on the main website of the enterprise,” the message read. “But this is the only way to break the silence. We are doing this, because we are afraid. We will be the first to suffer.”
The message also claimed that numerous accidents leading to deaths and injuries of workers had taken place at the plant. Some had been covered in the media, but “the management managed to hide most of them”, the message claimed.
Read more: Belarus’ radiation monitoring goes dark after alleged incident
Despite not being ready for operations, “the first block was launched under enormous pressure from the country’s leadership”.
The message also claimed that “the systems are not fully configured, which causes constant hardware problems”, adding that “repairs are taking place in unsafe conditions” and “workers are constantly injured and fatalities occur”.
“Earlier, many said that the NPP is a time bomb. We are forced to refute this and declare: the nuclear power plant is a mine that has already been stepped on,” it said.
The message noted that the workers shared their concerns on the eve of the Chernobyl disaster's 35th anniversary.
Read more: 'We do not have reliable information either.' Belarusians face repressions for anti-nuclear activism
The Belarusian Energy Ministry later issued a statement, saying that the website was “hacked”.
“Today the BelNPP website was hacked by unknown persons [and] is now being investigated by experts,” the ministry said on its official Telegram channel. “The information [...] is fake.”
After being deleted, the message later reappeared, before being removed for the second time. It is no longer available on the plant's website.
The power plant under construction some 50 kilometres from Vilnius is considered unsafe by the Lithuanian authorities. Several other incidents have taken place at the plant after the launch of its first reactor last November.
Read more: ‘Secrecy’at Belarus nuclear plant a danger to Lithuania – intelligence
Nikolai Ulasevich, an activist from Astravyets who has criticised the nuclear project, said he believed the messages posted on the official website were authentic.
“I don't know who posted this, but I believe it's true,” he told LRT.lt. “This is because I receive information about this structure from various sources, including from the station workers.”
“Including on the basis of their findings and conclusions,” he added.
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