Belarusian nuclear power plant’s equipment properly stored

Requirements for storing the equipment of the Belarusian nuclear power plant are rigorously observed. The information was released by Sergei Zaitsev, Head of the Office for Safety Assessment of Systems and Equipment of Nuclear Installations of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department (Gosatomnadzor) of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry, during a press conference held in BelTA’s press center on 17 June.

Equipment storage conditions were checked among other things during the complex inspection of the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant in May. “As far as storage is concerned, I would like to note that the hangars built for this purpose are indeed clean and dry. The equipment is kept in very good conditions. Requirements for storing equipment of the Belarusian nuclear power plant are observed. Access to the equipment is restricted. There were no complaints about the matter,” said the official.

According to the source, the production of equipment for the Belarusian nuclear power plant is permanently monitored. The quality is checked twice — at premises of the manufacturing enterprise and right before the equipment is put into storage. “All the documents are checked at premises of the manufacturing enterprise. As a rule, the work takes several days or weeks. Inspection certificates and equipment trial certificates are particularly closely examined,” explained Sergei Zaitsev. After that the equipment is delivered to the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant to undergo yet another thorough examination. Thus, the equipment is examined even after transportation, explained the specialist. It prevents equipment deformation, loss of documents and so on. The conformance of equipment with design documents is also checked during installation and commissioning operations.

A complex inspection to verify safety measures during the construction of the first and second power-generating units of the Belarusian nuclear power plant took place on 12-29 May. The inspection involved representatives of the Emergencies Ministry, the State Standardization Committee, the Healthcare Ministry, the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry, the Energy Ministry, the Interior Ministry, the Labor and Social Protection Ministry. Russian specialists — employees of the federal enterprise FSUE VO Safety — took part in the inspection as consultants.

As a result of the inspection Gosatomnadzor prepared and forwarded an inspection certificate to the enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant as well as a letter of order, which fulfillment will be closely monitored. This year’s second complex inspection of the Belarusian nuclear power plant will take place in October.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build an AES-2006 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The Belarusian nuclear power plant will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2,400MW (2x1,200MW). The Russian merged company OAO NIAEP – ZAO ASE is the general designer and the general contractor of the project. In line with the general contract for building the nuclear power plant the first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018, with the second one to go online in 2020.