Lukashenko: Belarus will use Russia nuclear industry training standards

Belarus will use the Russian practices in training specialists for its nuclear power plant (BelNPP), Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting to discuss the training of the personnel for the nuclear industry and provision of housing to the Belarusian NPP personnel on 27 July, BelTA has learned.

Belarusians will make the bulk of the staff at the Belarusian nuclear power plant, with key specialists invited from abroad. “We invite them during the construction, mainly from Russia as it is the Russian-designed nuclear power plant,” Alexander Lukashenko said. Access to the nuclear reactor shall be given only to the specialists with the hands-on experience of several years. With time Russian specialists will be replaced by specialists trained in Belarusian universities.

According to Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus will follow Russian best practices in personnel training. “This is the world’s advanced experience,” he added.

The head of state noted that for obvious reasons Belarus has no capabilities to train postgraduate students in nuclear energy. The country has yet to develop its scientific traditions in nuclear power. "Our universities do provide training of specialists, but not yet postgraduate and masters’ programs. We need specialists of the highest qualifications. We have few of them so far. Using the Russia-designed nuclear power station we will therefore train our specialists in the Russian Federation,” the President said.