Plans to power up Belarusian nuclear power plant first unit after checking turbine generator

MINSK, 16 July (BelTA) – The first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant will be turned on after systems and components of the turbine generator are inspected, BelTA learned from Belarusian Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich on 16 July.

The first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant was disconnected from the power grid on 12 July when the automatic protection of the generator kicked in. The turbine generator was disconnected from the power grid. In line with the planned procedure and the design procedure the output of the reactor unit was reduced to the minimal controlled level – 1%. Electricity supply to consumers was not disrupted at the moment of the disconnection.

Viktor Karankevich explained: “Since the equipment of the turbine generator operates at temperatures close to 300C, it needs some time to cool down. Then specialists will be able to start finding out the reason why the generator protection was triggered and fix it.”

All the systems and components of the turbine generator will be thoroughly examined. “This work will proceed stage by stage. Once it is done, the unit will be once again turned on,” the energy minister added.