Gosatomnadzor reveals no major failures during inspection to BelNPP

The recent comprehensive inspection of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (BelNPP) has not revealed any fundamental issues, head of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor) Olga Lugovskaya told BelTA commenting on some media reports alleging violations during the BelNPP construction.

“There were no major remarks and violations. There are no grounds or reasons to suspend the construction of the nuclear power plant or withdraw the license,” she noted. Olga Lugovskaya said that the remarks voiced during the inspection were accepted and the deadline for eliminating the failures was established. Olga Lugovskaya repeated that the remarks “were not critical or fundamental”.

According to the Gosatomnadzor chief, taking part in the comprehensive inspection were various supervisory bodies. The remarks were documented in the improvement notice. The deadline for removing the defects was established. In fact, all failures should be removed by the start of the second quarter of 2015. “These issues are being addressed as work proceeds; the bulk of remarks has already been addressed. Our major task is to make sure that the recommendations listed in the improvement notice are fulfilled within the established timeframe. I can say that we maintain close cooperation with our operator and we have no critical remarks,” Olga Lugovskaya said.

BelTA reported earlier that the comprehensive inspection of the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant took place on 27 October – 6 November. The inspection involved representatives of government agencies and their structural units, which are in charge of overseeing the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The number included representatives of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department and the Safe Industrial Practices Department of the Emergencies Ministry, and the State Committee for Standardization. Apart from Belarusian specialists, representatives of the FSUE VO Safety from Russia took part in the inspection as advisors.

The inspection covered several areas concerning the fulfillment of license requirements and conditions by the enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant and the observance of the relevant legislation during the construction of the nuclear power plant. The inspectors looked into measures meant to ensure the safe construction of the second power-generating unit and the first power-generating unit.