Belarus open to contacts with European Commission on nuclear power plant stress tests action plan

Belarus is open to contacts with the European Commission in the course of implementing the national plan of action in the wake of stress tests of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The statement was made by Head of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor) Olga Lugovskaya as she met with Acting Deputy Director General for Nuclear Energy, Safety and ITER of the Directorate General for Energy of the European Commission Massimo Garribba in Vienna on 17 September, BelTA has learned.

Olga Lugovskaya reminded that the Gosatomnadzor website had published the descriptive part of the national plan of action in the wake of the stress tests. The implementation of the plan itself began in February 2019, she explained. The descriptive part that has been published is intended primarily for the general public. Additional seismic surveys have already begun. Additional funding for this purpose has been appropriated.

Olga Lugovskaya noted that the national action plan is not set in stone and can be adjusted if it is advisable. For instance, the plan stipulates measures of research nature. It is possible additional actions will be required once the researches are over. The actions will be added to the plan then.

Representatives of the European Commission wondered how the plan reflects recommendations given in the course of the peer review conducted by the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG). Olga Lugovskaya assured that the plan fully takes into account recommendations of the European Union.

BelTA reported earlier that the national action plan contains a list of measures designed to enhance the safety level of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The action plan was compiled in the wake of stress tests of the nuclear power plant and a peer review of the tests’ results. The peer review was performed by ENSREG in 2017-2018.

All nuclear power plants are subjected to stress tests after the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in order to evaluate their resilience to extreme conditions. The Belarusian nuclear power plant was subjected to stress tests in 2016 in line with European methods and taking into account guidelines developed by the European Commission and ENSREG. The stress tests demonstrated the resilience of the Belarusian nuclear power plant to extreme conditions.