Belarusians to receive up-to-date information about radiation near Belarusian nuclear power plant

Belarusians will get up-to-date reports regarding the radiation environment near the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The information was released by Olga Zhukova, Candidate of Science (Engineering), Head of the Radiation and Ecological Monitoring Research Department of the National Center for Hydrometeorology, Radioactive Pollution Control, and Environmental Monitoring of Belarus, during the online conference hosted by the BelTA website on 19 May.

According to the source, an automated system to monitor the radiation environment around the Belarusian nuclear power plant is being created. The system will keep the nation informed about the radiation environment, will make lives safer and will reduce all kinds of phobias related to the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The information will be available from the websites of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry, the national weather center, and mass media.

The system will collect and process information about gamma radiation power levels and meteorological data. The radiation environment will be constantly monitored and the general public will be informed about the radiation status of the nuclear power plant and around the facility. In the course of the project's implementation the basic complex of the automated system to monitor the radiation environment near the Belarusian nuclear power plant has been developed. The complex comprises three automatic gamma radiation metering stations that will be located in Gervyaty, Mikhalishki, and Trokeniki. In these locations information tables will be installed to demonstrate current radiation levels in the specific location. A large table with the same functionality will be located in the town of Ostrovets, explained the specialist.

According to Olga Zhukova, there are plans to enhance the radiation metering complex with new-generation sensors that allow measuring the isotopic composition of gamma-emitting radionuclides. The emerging technology will allow building a nationwide automatic radiation control system in the future. The deployment of the radiation metering system during the construction of the nuclear power plant will allow accumulating statistics data that describe the radiation environment status near the nuclear power plant before the facility goes online.

In 2010-2012 the A.N. Sevchenko Applied Physical Problems Institute of the Belarusian State University carried out the development project to design the automated system to monitor the radiation environment in the observation area of the nuclear power plant. The Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry was the customer of the project.

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.