Russia, Belarus Sign $10 Billion Deal On Nuclear Power Station

The project is slated for construction outside the northwestern town of Astravets, near Belarus's border with Lithuania.

President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and visiting Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev have signed a general agreement on construction of a nuclear power station in Belarus.

The project, in the northwestern town of Astravets near the Lithuanian border, should be built according to Russian construction plans using a $10 billion from Moscow.

There have been plans to build a nuclear plant in Belarus since the 1980s, during Soviet times, but the project was derailed in the aftermath of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster in neighboring Ukraine.

The project has faced opposition from nearby Lithuania and environmentalist groups in Belarus.

Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS