Progress in work on first unit of Belarusian nuclear power plant described

MINSK, 30 April (BelTA) – Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk informed about progress in work on the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, BelTA learned from the Energy Ministry's Telegram channel.

The official noted: “We've finished the first stage of the pilot commercial operation stage, the so-called G1. We had to practice operating the unit at all the output settings (50%, 75%, 90%, and 100% of the nominal output).”

About 400 examinations and tests of technological systems have been carried out so far. “All the tests were finished successfully. The necessary reports were drawn up,” he said.

At present the first unit has been shut down for scheduled tasks, including to address the individual issues the Belarusian side had demanded that the general contractor should handle in order to transition to the next stage – complex testing of the unit's equipment at the nominal output of the reactor unit (it will take 15 days).

“Yesterday we had a routine conference at the nuclear power plant. We discussed every detail of equipment tuning. One can say that the operations that were supposed to be done are going to be finished today,” the deputy energy minister said.

The necessary paperwork to transition to the G2 stage is being drawn up. “We expect we will start the comprehensive testing of equipment of the reactor unit at the nominal output after the necessary documents are prepared and considered by Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor),” he concluded.