Belarusian nuclear power plant second unit construction progress described

MINSK, 13 January (BelTA) – Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk talked about progress of construction of the second unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant in a video interview published by the Energy Ministry's Telegram channel, BelTA has learned.

According to the source, equipment installation is in progress at the second unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. Balance-of-plant voltage is now available. Installed equipment pieces are going through individual tests and hydraulic tests. Most of the construction work has been finished except for finishing work, which proceeds on schedule. “We intend to finish laying an instrumentation cable in the first quarter of the year. Maybe some work will be left to do in April,” Mikhail Mikhadyuk said.

The first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant is operating at 100% of its capacity. The unit's thermal capacity makes up 3,200MW while the electric capacity is 1,170MW. “The unit is now operating at its designed output capacity. It is an important event for us. A set of static tests will be performed while keeping the unit operating without changing its output, including tests of neutron parameters of the reactor unit and other things. A set of dynamic tests will be carried out after that. The output will be reduced to a certain level and even to zero. Apart from that, a scheduled shutdown of the unit for certain technical operations will be part of the 100% capacity stage,” the deputy energy minister noted.

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.