Russia will build the first nuclear power plant in Belarus

October 14 2011 1

Atomstroyexport, Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, and the Belarusian Directorate for the Construction of a Nuclear Power Plant signed a contract for the construction of power units No. XXUMX and No. XXUMX of nuclear power plants on Belarusian territory.

On behalf of the Republic of Belarus, the agreement was signed by the Director of the State Institution “Directorate for Construction of the Nuclear Power Plant” Mikhail Filimonov, and on behalf of Russia, by the President of JSC “Atomstroyexport” (general contractor) Alexander Glukhov, BelTA reported.

On October 11, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko made a statement that he had agreed to sign a contract with the Russian Federation for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus. The statement was made at a meeting between Lukashenko and Novgorod Region Governor Sergei Mitin. The head of the Republic of Belarus noted that this decision was “worth a lot” for the Belarusian state. Alexander Lukashenko thanked the Russian political leadership for keeping its word “despite the terrible pressure from all sides.” According to the leader of the Republic of Belarus, the Belarusian side has already begun work on the site allocated for the construction of the nuclear power plant.

According to Vladimir Nikitin, a deputy of the Russian State Duma and a member of the deputy group for relations with the Belarusian parliament, the construction of the first Belarusian NPP will allow the republic to relieve “energy tension”. In addition, the signing of this agreement will strengthen economic and “maybe political cooperation” between Russia and the Republic of Belarus. It is clear that the construction of a nuclear power plant “will have a huge positive impact on the economy of the fraternal republic”, significant investments will go to Belarus, and they come at an economically difficult time for the Belarusian state.

On October 13, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Republic of Belarus Mikhail Mikhadyuk reported that Russia will provide Minsk with a loan for the construction of the Belarusian NPP, which will cover up to 90% of the cost of the work. According to the Deputy Minister, the Russian side has committed to finance the work on the construction of production infrastructure facilities, engineering networks and communications of the future nuclear power plant. And the Belarusian authorities must build housing for NPP workers using their own funds or other credit lines.

The Russian company Atomstroyexport will build the Belarusian NPP at the Ostrovets site in the Grodno region according to the AES-2006 project of JSC SPb Atomenergoproekt. Russian nuclear scientists will build two NPP power units for Belarus with a total capacity of 2400 MW with a V-491 reactor unit. The first unit of the Belarusian NPP should start operating in 2017, and the second in 2018. Currently, the Belarusian side is actively developing the site allocated for the NPP, building infrastructure; the first stage of the production base of the nuclear power plant has already been created

Negotiations on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus have been going on for several years. Back in the spring of 2011, Vladimir Putin promised Minsk 6 billion dollars for the construction of the Belarusian NPP. According to the Kommersant newspaper, the Belarusian side is counting on 9,4 billion dollars, which should be enough to build not only the Belarusian NPP itself, but also the accompanying infrastructure - housing for the plant's workers, access roads, etc. The Russian side plans to finance only the construction of the plant itself.

Earlier it was reported that the project for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in the Belarusian state was changed taking into account the results of the disaster at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in Japan. This was reported by the chief engineer of the state company "Directorate for the Construction of Nuclear Power Plants" Anatoly Bondar.

According to the nuclear engineer, the general designer of the Belarusian NPP, the Atomenergoproekt Research Institute, analyzed the situation that arose at the Japanese nuclear power plant after the explosions caused by the powerful earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Bondar did not specify what changes were made to the Belarusian NPP construction project. But he noted that the nuclear power plant project has an optimal balance of active and passive protection systems.