Nuclear security

Why the country most poisoned by Chernobyl is going nuclear

How Belarusians - many of whom are still suffering cancers and other health problems due to the Chernobyl explosion - feel about their new nuclear power plant is difficult to gauge. Government critics say those who dared to raise questions were harassed or arrested.

One woman born in a village in southern Belarus, close to Chernobyl, tells of how the area round her old home is within an exclusion zone which circles the site. With tears in her eyes she says the area is judged to be so contaminated she's only allowed back once a year, to tend the graves of her ancestors.

By a strange twist of fate, she now finds herself working near the new station - yet she's upbeat.

"At first it felt strange, living so close to a nuclear station again but then I think, 'Accidents can't happen twice' and we need the power."

The nuclear facility in Belarus is near the border with EU member Lithuania - only about 30 miles (50km) from Vilnius, the Baltic state's capital.