Russia named main supplier of nuclear fuel for Belarusian nuclear power plant

The Russian nuclear power engineering corporation Rosatom will be the main supplier of nuclear fuel to the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The statement was made by Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk during the press briefing held in BelTA’s press center on 27 August to discuss the safe development of nuclear power engineering and the non-proliferation regime as guarantees of the mankind’s future.

Mikhail Mikhadyuk said: “Belarus and Russia have signed an intergovernmental agreement on building the Belarusian nuclear power plant. In accordance with the document Rosatom is ready to supply nuclear fuel to us. We are now working on the relevant draft contract.”

In his words, the International Bank of Low Enriched Uranium represents an alternative supplier of this nuclear fuel component for any nuclear power plant in the world. “When a country cannot buy enriched uranium, which is one of the components used to make nuclear fuel, on the market due to force-majeure events, the country will be able to use this bank,” explained the Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister.

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.