Business news

OSTROVETS, 12 October (BelTA) – The construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant will cost up to $11 billion, BelTA learned from Mikhail Filimonov, Director General of the state enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, on 12 October.

Mikhail Filimonov reminded that Belarus and Russia had signed an intergovernmental agreement, according to which Russia would lend up to $10 billion for building the nuclear power plant while Belarus would have to contribute another 10%. Thus, there are plans to spend up to $11 billion on building the nuclear power plant. According to the source, about 30% of the lent money has been spent already.Full-scale work is now in progress at 123 out of 130 facilities and installations of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. About 5,000 personnel and 40 subcontractors are busy building the power plant. Since construction began, they have poured 70% of the total volume of concrete the project requires and have installed 83% of the total number of reinforcing bars the project requires. The construction of the first power-generating unit is about to end. Installation operations are commencing.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is built using the Russian standard Generation III+ design AES-2006 near Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2019, with the second one to go online in 2020.