Belarus saves some $750,000 per day on natural gas thanks to nuclear power plant launch

SOLIGORSK, 29 December (BelTA) – Thanks to the launch of the first unit of the nuclear power plant Belarus saves about $750,000 per day on buying natural gas. Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko made the statement as he visited Belaruskali on 29 December, BelTA has learned.

The official said: “Thanks to the connection of the first unit to the power grid and the conservation of a certain volume of natural gas the country saves about $750,000 per day.”

Roman Golovchenko pointed out that pilot commercial operation of the first unit is in progress now, with the reactor unit operating at roughly 75% of its output capacity. “But we already substitute a certain volume of natural gas and save such a sum for the country,” he stated.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built near Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast using the Russian design AES-2006 featuring two VVER-1200 reactors with the total output capacity of 2,400MW.