Preparation of power grid linkup for Belarusian nuclear station to begin in January-February

The work to prepare the power grid to collect the electricity the Belarusian nuclear power plant will generate will begin in January-February 2014. The information was released by Valery Porshnev, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Belarusian national electrical company Belenergo, during the online conference hosted by the BelTA website on 12 December.

“The construction of new energy sources requires the construction of systems to collect electricity. The Belarusian nuclear power plant is expected to generate 2,000MW of electricity. To collect it, 1,000km of 330kV power lines will be built. We will create the entire infrastructure the construction of the nuclear power plant requires,” he explained. “The contract to build the power collection system for the Belarusian nuclear station has been signed, our partner is a Chinese company. As far as I know, financing has already been opened. Specialists of the Belarusian power grid design enterprise Belenergosetproect are busy developing design specifications and estimates. After that the Chinese company, which has won the tender, will take care of building the power lines. The work to prepare the power grid to collect the electricity that the Belarusian nuclear power plant will generate is supposed to begin in January-February”.

In November the Ostrovets site saw the launch of concrete pouring operations to build the first power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The Belarusian nuclear power plant will have two power-generating units with the total capacity of up to 2,400MW (1,200MW each). The Russian design AES-2006 has been chosen to build the power plant. The design is fully compliant with international standards and IAEA recommendations. The Russian public joint-stock company OAO NIAEP – ZAO Atomstroyexport is the general designer and the general contractor for building the power plant. The timeline for implementing the project is stipulated by the general contract. The first power-engineering unit of the nuclear power plant is scheduled for launch in November 2018.

Belarus and Russia signed the general contract to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant in July 2012. The cost of building the installation is primarily covered by a state export loan granted by Russia. In line with the relevant intergovernmental agreement the loan can provide up to $10 billion for 25 years to cover 90% of the cost of every contract between the Russian company ZAO Atomstroyexport and the Belarusian state institution Directorate for Nuclear Power Plant Construction.