Belarusian nuclear station’s second unit to get core catcher installed by April

The core catcher for the second power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant will be installed by April, said Anatoly Bondar, Chief Engineer of the enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, during the press conference arranged by BelTA on 11 March.

“The installation is supposed to end in Q1 2015 in accordance with the schedule. I think we will not run into any delays,” he remarked.

Andrei Barkun, Deputy Director General, Head of the Capital Construction Office of the enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, pointed out that the installation of the core catcher is a lengthy process that takes time, involves several stages and lasts about one year in total.

The core catcher is a specialized system designed to protect nuclear power plants. The device will prevent dangerous radioactive elements from leaking out of the shell even in the direst of emergencies.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build an AES-2006 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The 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.