Belarus looks forward to tighter cooperation with IAEA during nuclear power plant operation

MINSK, 4 March (BelTA) – Belarus looks forward to tighter cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) during the operation of the country's nuclear power plant. Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk made the statement during the conference held to sum up results of the IAEA's Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR 3) mission, BelTA has learned.

Mikhail Mikhadyuk said: “We highly appreciate the level of cooperation we have reached with the IAEA and hope that this cooperation will only grow stronger through the entire period of the nuclear power plant's operation.”

The official thanked IAEA experts for providing an objective evaluation of the work done by the Belarusian side and for the recommendations and proposals the experts will provide as a result of the mission's work. “We work out our own internal measures to implement every recommendation and proposal. We intend to make the final results of the mission public,” he remarked.

Mikhail Mikhadyuk stressed that the safety of the nuclear power plant under construction is the top priority for Belarus in the course of implementing the nuclear energy program. The current IAEA mission had been organized upon the initiative of the Belarusian side.

The IAEA's Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR 3) mission worked in Belarus on 24 February – 4 March. The IAEA experts analyzed the Belarusian nuclear energy industry infrastructure in all the 19 areas of the industry's development specified by the IAEA Milestones Document for emerging nuclear energy countries.

In the course of the mission a Belarusian report on developing all aspects of the nuclear infrastructure was reviewed, conferences in the format of interview were held with Belarusian experts to discuss all these aspects. Representatives of the Energy Ministry, the Emergencies Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry, the Education Ministry, the Healthcare Ministry, and the joint energy and nuclear research institute Sosny of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, representatives of the Belarusian electric company Belenergo, and the state enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant took part in events organized in the course of the mission.

The group of IAEA experts used the acquired data and additional comments and proposals of the Belarusian side to prepare a preliminary report on results of the INIR 3 mission.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built near Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast using a Russian design featuring two VVER-1200 reactors with the total output capacity of 2,400MW. Rosatom's engineering division – ASE Company – is the general contractor. The first unit is supposed to go online in 2020, with the second one scheduled for launch in 2021.