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VIENNA, 27 September (BelTA) – An exposition of the Belarusian nuclear power plant opened in the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria on 27 September as part of the 60^th session of the IAEA General Conference, BelTA has learned.

It is the second time an exposition of the Belarusian nuclear power plant has been arranged on the IAEA platform. Although the official opening ceremony took place on the second day of the 60^th session of the IAEA General Conference visitors started getting familiar with the exposition the day before. So far hundreds of specialists from Europe, Asia, and America have seen the Belarusian stand.

During the official opening ceremony Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk underlined that the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant has been done in full compliance with IAEA recommendations since the very first days. Close attention is paid to safety and openness of the project.

In his words, in the last 12 months Belarus has gone a long way in building the nuclear power plant. Both reactors are in the active construction phase. The installation of equipment of the first power-generating unit has begun. Social infrastructure in Ostrovets is being built.

According to the information available at the Belarusian stand, at present over 5,000 people are working at the construction site in Ostrovets. Some 108,300 tonnes of reinforcement bars have been installed and about 690,900m3 of concrete has been poured. The internal protective shell of the first reactor has reached the 66.6 meter mark while the external one is at the 44.6 meter mark. The dome of the internal protective shell and the polar crane have been installed. The cooling tower has reached the 167 meter mark. Work is also in progress on the external and internal protective shells of the second reactor, with the cooling tower now as high as 136m.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant project is also mentioned at the Russian nuclear industry stand since Belarus and Russia are building the nuclear power plant together. As part of the exhibition the Russian state corporation Rosatom gifted a model of a state-of-the-art, 3+ generation reactor to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano. It is a model of the sixth reactor of the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant. The same design is used to build reactors of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. All the reactors meet post-Fukushima requirements. They have a core catcher, passive heat dissipation systems, and hydrogen recombiners.

Over 20 countries presented their expositions during the 60^th session of the IAEA General Conference. The number includes UK, USA, Russia, Germany, Canada, China, and Japan.