Lithuania's statement about shutdown of radiation monitoring stations in Belarus disproved

MINSK, 29 March (BelTA) – The National Center for Hydrometeorology, Radioactive Contamination Control, and Environmental Monitoring (Belhydromet) has disproved a statement made by Julius Ziliukas, Director of Lithuania's Radiation Protection Center. The Lithuanian official claimed that radiation monitoring stations all over Belarus were turned off on 7 March. Belhydromet emphasized that the radiation situation in the area of the Belarusian nuclear power plant remained normal, BelTA learned from the Belhydromet website.

According to the source, on 7 March 2021 automatic gamma radiation measuring stations of Belhydromet's automated radiation monitoring system in the area of the Belarusian nuclear power plant operated in normal mode. The flow of data from the stations to Belhydromet's response center was not disrupted.

Every ten minutes the stations uploaded gamma radiation measurements to the central server. No radiation spikes above background levels were registered. Gamma radiation levels reported by all the stations varied from 0.05 to 0.11 micro sieverts. The same measurement range was observed on the other days in March 2021 and earlier.

Belhydromet also noted that data of the automated radiation monitoring system is shared in real time only with relevant Belarusian government agencies, which are responsible for responding to emergencies. The Lithuanian side could not have access to the information that “the stations were disconnected from the network in the middle of the day on 7 March.”

Consultations with technical experts of the European Radiological Data Exchange Platform (EURDEP) are in progress now. Belarus would like to sign an administrative agreement on joining the EURDEP platform and expanding information exchange by means of sharing data of the automated radiation monitoring system.

Julius Ziliukas previously stated on the air of the Lithuanian TV channel LRT TV that radiation monitoring stations all over Belarus were turned off for some time on 7 March.