Context: April 26 marked the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant accident, one of the largest man-made disasters to have affected Belarus. Radioactive contamination affected 53 districts in the country. Cesium-137 contaminated nearly a quarter of Belarus's territory, strontium-90 about 10%, and plutonium isotopes about 2%. The accident’s repercussions extended beyond the environment, impacting human health and the economy. Almost the entire population of Belarus experienced “iodine shock,” and 137,700 people were evacuated from contaminated areas. Additionally, 265,000 hectares of land were removed from agricultural production.
Radio Minsk: The price of restoration
On April 13, 2026, Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research expert Aliaksei Audonin discussed the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl accident on Radio Minsk. He said that Belarus is almost the only country in the world that knows how to develop contaminated areas. Speaking about the experience, he also mentioned the price the country allegedly paid to restore the environment.
“Our Belarusian society has invested tremendous resources to address this issue, ensuring the restoration and advancement of our nation. According to some estimates, more than $200 billion over this period was… You can’t say ‘wasted’ — rather, it was ‘invested,’” Audonin said.
This estimate is off by a factor of about 10, overestimating government spending. In 2021, a representative from the Belarusian Ministry for Emergency Situations reported that $19.2 billion had been spent on Chornobyl state programs since 1990. Adding the funding of the last five-year program to this amount yields about another billion. The total is just over $20 billion, not $200 billion.
Even when we only consider the Chornobyl programs over the last 30 years, the amount of direct funding is even smaller. According to these calculations, only about $9 billion can be accounted for. A significant portion of the expenses exceeding $20 billion were likely incurred during the first decade after the accident, when the consequences of the catastrophe were most severe.
The $200 billion figure relates to another metric. It reflects estimates of the damage to Belarus caused by the Chornobyl disaster over the 30 years of overcoming its consequences. In other words, the broadcast confused two fundamentally different concepts: state expenditures on liquidating consequences and restoring the area, and total socioeconomic damage.
First National Channel of Belarusian Radio: A threat from Poland
On the same day, the topic of nuclear power was discussed on Belarusian Radio’s First National Channel. Iryna Novikava, head of the Department of Management, Business Technologies, and Sustainable Development at the Belarusian State Technological University, said on air that Poland had wrongly rejected the services of the Russian state corporation Rosatom and that its first nuclear power plant would be built by an inexperienced company.
“The Poles are determined to construct a nuclear plant in northwestern Poland, despite their opposition to our plant. However, they decided to sign a contract with Westinghouse Electric disregarding Russia’s objections. What is Westinghouse Electric? Although it is an American firm, it has no experience in construction or the implementation of large projects, such as nuclear power plants. Moreover, this firm has gone bankrupt two or three times. In 2016, they announced that they were starting a construction business,” she said.
Westinghouse Electric is one of the biggest players in the global nuclear technology industry. Half of the world’s nuclear reactors use its technology. The company delivered its first commercial nuclear reactor in 1957.
It is also significant that Belarus invited Westinghouse to participate in the BelNPP construction tender back in 2008. Therefore, even according to the logic of the former Belarusian decisions, it is incorrect to call the company an accidental participant without industry experience.
Westinghouse did declare bankruptcy once, in 2017. This occurred after the company acquired a construction business and attempted to build nuclear power plants independently. Following its bankruptcy, the company abandoned this model and focused solely on nuclear technology. This is why Westinghouse is collaborating with the construction company Bechtel on the Polish project rather than working alone. The latter has a wealth of experience in nuclear projects, having worked on approximately 150 power plants worldwide.
Furthermore, the planned reactors in Poland are not just theoretical or experimental; they are already operating in China and the United States.
Thus, in one broadcast, the state media incorrectly reported that Belarus’s expenses for overcoming the consequences of the Chornobyl disaster were ten times higher than they actually were, confusing them with the general assessment of the damage. In another show, Westinghouse was portrayed as an inexperienced and careless contractor, despite being a long-time world leader in the nuclear industry.
