Rosatom, Belarus can implement many landmark projects together

Rosatom and Belarus can implement many landmark projects together. The opinion was voiced by Mr Alexander Merten, Vice President of ZAO Rusatom Overseas, at the 5th international expo and conference AtomExpo Belarus 2013, which took place in Minsk on 2-4 April, BelTA learned from the representative office of ZAO Rusatom Overseas.

Arranged with assistance of the Belarus government, the National Academy of Sciences, the Russian state corporation Rosatom, the forum was an open venue for demonstrating the latest technologies used to design, build, operate, and secure nuclear power plants. Representatives of ZAO Rusatom Overseas took part in the events held as part of AtomExpo Belarus 2013.

Addressing participants and guests of the forum during the opening ceremony on 2 April, Alexander Merten said it was symbolic that the event began on the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Belarus and Russia. “We are convinced that Rosatom’s cooperation with Belarusian partners has great prospects. Together we will be able to implement a lot of significant projects. One of the major projects has already been launched – the construction of Belarus’ first nuclear power plant,” he said.

In his speech at the plenary session Alexander Merten also underlined that Russian-Belarusian cooperation in the project to build the Belarusian nuclear station will help advance cutting-edge, safe and effective Russian nuclear technologies in addition to giving an impulse to the development of the country’s industrial potential thanks to the participation of Belarusian companies in Russian nuclear projects in Belarus, Russia and other countries.

Alexander Merten also mentioned the possibility of working together in non-nuclear matters because the Russian state corporation Rosatom had accumulated extensive experience in thermal power generation and alternative power engineering. It is possible to utilize the sizeable scientific potential of Belarus in Russian projects, he believes.

Another specialist of ZAO Rusatom Overseas – Mr Andrei Sitnikov – presented the experience and approaches of Rosatom in the development of the national nuclear infrastructure of other countries as part of the conference.

“The creation of the nuclear infrastructure is a key matter for the countries that have just begun forming national nuclear energy programs. Rosatom utilizes its own long-lived experience, IAEA practices and takes into account the requirements of individual countries. Today we successfully cooperate in this area with Belarus as well as Vietnam and Bangladesh,” said Andrei Sitnikov.

The presentation by Mr Sergei Boyarkin, Advisor to the ZAO Rusatom Overseas CEO, to highlight the safety of Russian nuclear station designs after the Fukushima accident was one of the key reports delivered during the roundtable session on the public acceptability of the Belarusian nuclear power plant and the development of nuclear power engineering in Belarus and the Baltic region. The speaker underlined that references, combination of safeguards, the reliability of design solutions were key priorities in nuclear station designs that utilize Russian technologies.

“Rosatom’s designs already utilize the safety approaches and solutions formulated by the global community after the Fukushima accident. Today they can withstand not only the Japanese events but also hypothetical, most improbable emergencies the likes of which have not been seen yet,” concluded Sergei Boyarkin.

ZAO Rusatom Overseas is a company of the Russian state corporation Rosatom. Rusatom Overseas was established in 2011 with a view to promoting Russian nuclear technologies onto the global market.