First unit of Belarusian nuclear power plant to reconnect to power grid at later date

MINSK, 11 October (BelTA) – The timeframe for connecting the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant to the power grid after a scheduled preventive repair has been adjusted, BelTA learned from Belarusian Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich after the Belarusian Energy and Ecology Forum opened in Minsk on 11 October.

Additional work and diagnostics of power-generating equipment of the first unit will be done taking into account the experience of operation of similar equipment at other nuclear power plants. This is why the timeframe for connecting the unit to the power grid has been shifted.

“Finishing the scheduled preventive repair of the unit is a very important stage. We have to make sure that all the equipment and process systems will operate reliably till the next scheduled repair. It is a very important task,” Viktor Karankevich said.

The second unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant is nearly ready, with the completion rate at 97%. Additional technological operations are being carried out over there now. No exact date when the unit will be commissioned is available yet.

Since the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant was connected to the national power grid, the nuclear power plant has generated 9.3 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, which allowed substituting 2.4 billion m3 of natural gas and satisfying growing needs of the real sector of the economy and the population..