Nowadays it is not very frequent that one would hear of a new nuclear project coming onstream in Europe. Perhaps unsurprisingly the Old Continent’s forthcoming nuclear launch takes place in its “last dictatorship” – after 9 years of construction and even more years spent in waiting, Belarus is expected to start up its first nuclear plant during the next couple of weeks – against a strung-up background of energy conflicts, elections-related ambiguity and personal suspicion. The Belorussian nuclear plant (abbreviated BelAES) is being built by Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear holding, based on Russian technology and configured to run on its nuclear fuel, nevertheless its impeding launch is perceived as a sign of diversification, namely a gas-to-nuclear diversification drive that’s just a part in a grand balancing act of President Lukashenko. Allies when it comes to superficial moves like commissioning a WWII military monument, political difficulties between Belarus and Russia have […]