Controversial plans to launch a nuclear power plant in Belarus have gone ahead, despite concerns from neighbouring countries.
Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius criticised the Astravets nuclear power plant launch, claiming there were unresolved safety issues, the Daily Mail reports.
The manufacturer, Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, has strongly denied the allegations - stressing the plant has been approved by international regulators and watchdogs.
The Lithuanian government, however, has offered free iodine tablets to around half a million residents who live on the Belarusian border in an attempt to protect them from radiation in case of an accident.
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A spokesperson for the Centre of Registers, a government agency, told AFP that 130,000 people had visited to pharmacies to collect the iodine tablets in recent weeks.
Iodine can block the thyroid gland from radiation injury.
The Russian-built plant is the first in Belarus and is situated around 30 miles away from the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
Speaking earlier this year, Belarus' president Alexander Lukashenko said the plant was a 'breakthrough into the future'.
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But not everyone is so keen on the idea, and Linkevicius has said it has immediately stopped electricity imports from Belarus, while fellow neighbouring country Latvia said it has also stopped electricity imports that have been generated at the plant.
Asta Skaisgiryte, an advisor to the Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, said: "We are categorically against such a hasty launch."
According to ABC News, Lithuania sent a 'protest note' to Belarus last month.
Speaking during a press conference in Helsinki almost 12 months ago, President Nauseda said the construction of the plant had been plighted with 'accidents, stolen materials and the mistreatment of workers'.
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But Rosatom, who manufactured the plant, has said it's safe.
A spokesperson for Rosatom told The Independent in January: "The reactors being used are among the safest in the world and designed to risk the possibility of even the most unlikely event such as a plane strike.
"The plant design has been approved by International regulators and watchdogs, including the IAEA, ENSREG and others, and the most up to date legally binding set of regulation does not specify any requirements regarding distances between nuclear power plants and cities."
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Belarus was seriously impacted by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, with airborne radioactive contamination falling down on the country.
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