IAEA praises neatness of Belarusian nuclear power plant construction site

The Belarusian nuclear power plant construction site near Ostrovets is an example to follow. The opinion was voiced by IAEA Deputy Director General Mikhail Chudakov as he met with Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk in Vienna on 15 September, BelTA has learned.

The IAEA official said: “We are glad that Belarus vigorously cooperates with the IAEA in accordance with our programs and works to create the infrastructure in compliance with the recommendations. I’ve visited the Ostrovets site twice. It is an example to follow. The preliminary manufacturing conditions that have been created over there exceed those on many other sites I have seen.”

The IAEA Deputy Director General also stressed Belarus’ openness in implementing the nuclear energy program and the country’s devotion to all the recommendations of the agency.

In turn, during the meeting Mikhail Mikhadyuk informed the other side about the progress in implementing the project to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant, about the work that has been done and plans for the next year. He mentioned the vigorous work of the interagency commission in Belarus, revealed plans to commission the training center this year as well as the social infrastructure, which is being created around the Belarusian nuclear power plant, including home construction for the power plant’s workers.

According to the Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister, they intend to fully man the power plant soon in order to get the personnel involved in the startup and commissioning operations at the end of the construction phase. “We have hired people virtually for all the key posts in all the divisions and the management,” he said.

Mikhail Mikhadyuk said that efforts to address personnel needs of the Belarusian nuclear power plant have three prongs. First, foreign specialists with a track record in the nuclear energy industry are hired for the key positions. Second, human resources from existing conventional power plants are borrowed and sent for retraining courses for the sake of getting them ready to operate the new nuclear power plant. Third, there are plans to hire young nuclear energy industry professionals, who are about to graduate from the relevant universities.

“We are grateful to the IAEA for the attention we are getting as part of the project on technical aid for the development of human resources,” said the Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister. He also noted that in accordance with the general contract the Russian nuclear energy industry corporation Rosatom will train about 600 people and the work is already in progress.

“We understand very well that without people even good machines and a good design represent dead weight,” stressed Mikhail Mikhadyuk while speaking about training personnel for the Belarusian nuclear power plant as a top priority.