Rosatom praises Belarusian nuclear station construction workers

The Russian state corporation Rosatom highly appreciates the quality of the work done by Belarusian construction workers at the preparatory stage of the nuclear power plant construction in the town of Ostrovets. The statement was made by Rosatom head Mr Sergei Kiriyenko on 1 February, BelTA has learned.

“Here we can see a fully equipped construction site with all the infrastructure and roads, auxiliary buildings and structures,” said Sergei Kiriyenko. “In a sense it is an exemplary sight. Here one can definitely bring customers from the countries that are about to build their first nuclear power plant”.

The first work began in Ostrovets in mid-April 2012. 1 February 2013 saw the start of the excavation of the foundation pit for the second power-generating unit of the nuclear power plant. A lot of work has been done, stressed Sergei Kiriyenko. “There are things to learn from Belarusian builders in Ostrovets. The work is going ahead of the schedule. I am glad that we are not lagging behind as it often happens at such sites due to some unforeseen problems,” he said. The Rosatom head said that it is possible that partners from Bangladesh and Vietnam may be invited to see the site because they are just starting building their first nuclear power plants.

Building a nuclear power plant involves a lot of normative legal documents. A large package of documents is ready now. An intergovernmental agreement on nuclear radiation security is supposed to be signed in Minsk on 1 February. According to Sergei Kiriyenko, it is one of the world’s first agreements to be adopted after the events at Fukushima 1. New international legislation is being worked out to create joint mechanisms, share information about reactor safety matters. The agreement enables addressing matters of security, control, monitoring of openness. “It is extremely important to keep the entire information about the construction and operation of the power plant as open as possible to the general public in Belarus, Russia, and other countries,” said the Rosatom Director General. “We resolutely state that here, in Ostrovets the world’s safest nuclear power plant will be built. It meets post-Fukushima safety requirements”.

In March part of the documents to build the nuclear power plant has to be prepared. All the documents should be ready by 1 June 2013. The documents will also have to pass examination. After that it will be necessary to get a license from Belarusian and Russian regulators to build the nuclear station. It should be done before concrete is poured.

The first document relating to the preparations to build the nuclear power plant in Belarus was signed in Minsk on 28 May 2009. It was a Belarusian-Russian intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It is a framework document that stipulates the main directions of cooperation in designing, building, and operating a nuclear power plant, in delivering nuclear fuel, maintaining nuclear and radiation safety, scientific cooperation, and personnel training.

The next step was the signing of the contract agreement to build the power plant in October 2011. The document envisages the construction of two power-generating units of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. It was signed by ZAO Atomstroyexport (a company of the state corporation Rosatom) and the Nuclear Power Plant Construction Directorate (Belarus). The general contract to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant was signed by Belarus and Russia on 18 July 2012. The general contract determines obligations and responsibilities of the sides, the timeline for the project’s implementation, its approximate cost for the period till 2020, terms of payments, equipment deliveries, construction organization, acceptance of power units, and other conditions.

In November 2011 the sides inked the intergovernmental agreement on allocating a Russian state export loan to Belarus to the tune of up to $10 billion. In December 2012 Russian Vnesheconombank authorized allocating a $500 million credit line for the Belarusian Finance Ministry to make advance payments for the work to build the nuclear power plant.

Russia is ready to give Belarus up to $10 billion via a long-term state loan for up to 25 years on preferential terms. Once the nuclear station is commissioned, it will save about 5 billion cubic meters of imported natural gas, reducing the prime cost of electricity generation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and greatly improving the energy security of the country.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant will have two power-generating units with the total capacity of up to 2,400MW (1,200MW each). It will be built at the Ostrovets site in Grodno Oblast. The design AES-2006 has been chosen for Belarus’ first nuclear power plant. The design is fully compliant with international norms and IAEA recommendations.

In line with the general contract for the nuclear station construction the first power-generating unit of the nuclear power plant is scheduled for commissioning in November 2018, with the second one scheduled for July 2020.