Prelaunch operations in progress at first unit of Belarusian nuclear power plant

MINSK, 20 November (BelTA) – Prelaunch operations are in progress at the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, BelTA learned from Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk before the session of the CIS Commission on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy on 20 November.

The official said: “The first unit is going through prelaunch operations. In other words, construction work is virtually finished. Matters of beautification and interior finishing of the premises are left to be addressed. We estimate the readiness of the first unit at 97% of the total volume of the work specified by design documents.”

Construction work and the installation of on-site equipment are in progress at the second unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant.

The deputy energy minister pointed out that a nuclear power plant is a very complicated facility from the point of view of construction work and technologies in use. Every operation – prelaunch and launch ones – is specified by special programs.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is now getting ready for a key stage in prelaunch operations – approach to the so-called hot trials.

Fuel rod array imitators will be placed in the reactor zone during this stage. The reactor will have to handle operational temperature and pressure and will have to go through a series of tests. Fuel charging – the so-called physical launch – is the next stage. “I think if everything works out fine, we will be able to perform physical launch in Q1 2020,” Mikhail Mikhadyuk added.

As many as 36 subcontractors, including 22 Belarusian ones and 14 Russian ones, are working to build facilities and installations of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. Some 4,900 construction and installation personnel are working on site.

As per design process water is now fed from the Viliya River to the nuclear power plant. A water demineralization system is now operational. Work is in progress to make sure all the plant and equipment is ready.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built near Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast using a Russian design featuring two VVER-1200 reactors with the total output capacity of 2,400MW. ASE Company is the general designer and general contractor in the project to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant. It also represents Rosatom's engineering division.