Primary reactor equipment for Belarusian nuclear power plant ready for installation in 2015

The core process equipment of the reactor compartment of the first power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant will be ready for installation in 2015, BelTA learned from Valery Limarenko, President of the Russian company NIAEP – ASE, during the international expo Atomexpo Belarus on 22 April.

“This year we are moving to the 44-meter mark [in building the reactor of the first unit] and will be virtually ready to install the core process equipment,” said the head of the Russian company. In April the building of the first reactor was close to the 22-meter mark.

According to Valery Limarenko, the construction process is proceeding at a good place and stays on schedule. “The first unit is going well. A team has been created and does the work well and with good economic parameters,” he stated. The executive pointed out that Belarusian contractors account for over 84% of the work done.

About 3,500 construction workers are now employed at the construction site. The number is supposed to increase up to roughly 6,200 by the end of the year.

The number of construction workers employed to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant is expected to peak at 8,000 in 2016-2017.

In 2015 as part of the project to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant the bulk of the money will be spent on paying for construction and installation work and for getting the equipment made. There are plans to spend $633 million this year, including $570 million borrowed from Russia. Over 14.5% of the planned sum has been spent since the construction project started.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build an AES-2006 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The power plant will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2,400MW (2x1,200MW). The Russian merged company OAO NIAEP – ZAO ASE is the general designer and the general contractor of the project. In line with the general contract for building the nuclear power plant the first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018, with the second one to go online in 2020.