Reactor vessel to arrive at Belarusian nuclear power plant construction site on 24 December

The reactor vessel for the first power-generating unit is supposed to arrive at the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant on 24 December, BelTA learned from Anatoly Bondar, Chief Engineer of the state enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, on 18 December.

Combined means of transportation are used to deliver the piece of equipment to the nuclear power plant. Heavy trucks transported it from the manufacturer to the Tsimlyansk water reservoir first. From there the vessel was shipped by river to Veliky Novgorod. A specialized transporter is now utilized to deliver the reactor vessel by rail to Ostrovets.

The reactor vessel is supposed to cross the Belarusian-Russian border today, papers are being processed now. It is expected to arrive at the railway station Bobrovniki on 24 December. The railway station is used to service the construction site and is located close to the Belarusian nuclear power plant. According to Anatoly Bondar, the reactor vessel’s transportation is taking so long because it can be transported by rail only during daytime.

The reactor vessel for the first power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant was made by the Volgodonsk-based branch Atommash of the Russian company AEM Technologies. The manufacturer sent the product on its way on 14 October. This piece of equipment weighs over 330 tonnes. It is 13 meters high, with the diameter as large as 4.5 meters. On the whole, AEM Technologies will make over 50 kinds of equipment for the Belarusian nuclear power plant. A total of over 4,000 tonnes of equipment will be made and shipped in 2013-2017.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build an AES-2006 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The Belarusian nuclear power plant will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2,400MW (2x1,200MW). 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.