ENSREG experts arrive at BelNPP

MINSK, 9 February (BelTA) – Experts of the European Commission and the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) have arrived at the site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant (BelNPP) as part of the peer review of the national plan of action following the results of the stress tests conducted at the plant, BelTA learned from the official Telegram channel of the Belarusian Energy Ministry.

The group of experts consists of nine people. They are representatives of Austria, Belgium, the UK, Hungary, Germany, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Finland. The group is headed by Director General of Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) Petteri Tiippana.

“The experts will work at the BelNPP site on 9-10 February. They will visit the plant facilities, get familiar with the materials, which contain the information on the implementation of the national plan of action on the results of stress tests, and also will be able to ask questions to representatives of Gosatomnadzor, the Nuclear Energy Department of the Energy Ministry, the ASE group of designers and the nuclear plant specialists,” the message reads.

According to the ministry, Belarus has voluntarily conducted stress tests of the BelNPP in 2016-2018 according to the EU methodology. They assessed the presence of “safety reserves” over the requirements established by national legislation. Stress test criteria included testing the reliability of the nuclear plant in case of natural disasters, particularly earthquakes and floods, as well as various man-made accidents. Risks associated with the human factor were analyzed as well. As a result, no safety deficits were identified at the nuclear power plant.

Based on the results of the stress tests, the national regulator, Gosatomnadzor, prepared a national plan of action, which summarized both the recommendations of the national expert review and those of the European peer review. The document contains 23 items with implementation deadlines in the period from 2019 to 2025. Some of the recommendations have already been implemented, including those related to additional safety systems and equipment, the Energy Ministry stressed.