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Belarusian nuclear power plant seen as fulcrum of national energy security
OSTROVETS, 23 August (BelTA) – The country’s energy security directly depends on the development of the nuclear energy industry today. Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Denis Moroz made the statement while talking to reporters after representatives of Kazakhstan’s mass media and expert community visited the Belarusian nuclear power plant, BelTA has learned.
The deputy energy minister reminded that the decision in favor of building the Belarusian nuclear power plant was made by the head of state in 2008 and had been incorporated into the energy security concept.
“Belarus does not have a lot of natural energy resources,” Denis Moroz remarked. “We’ve decided to focus on peaceful uses of nuclear energy for the sake of diversifying the energy resources and providing power to Belarusian consumers in a reliable manner.”
The environmental friendliness of the energy the nuclear power plant generates is the second factor that confirms the correctness of the chosen strategy. According to the deputy energy minister, since its launch the Belarusian nuclear power plant has generated 34 billion kWh of electricity. It allowed decreasing Belarus’ consumption of natural gas by 9 billion m3 and significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.
Denis Moroz also drew attention of foreign experts and reporters to the fact that the construction of the nuclear power plant had become a powerful stimulus for increasing electricity consumption in the country. Stimulating measures authorized by the president and the government have helped increase electricity consumption.
“Electricity rates in Belarus vary for the sake of increasing electricity consumption. Essentially the more electricity a manufacturer consumes, the less it costs for the enterprise,” the deputy energy minister explained. “We see that the implemented measures produce a significant effect and the number of electricity users grows all the time. In turn, electricity rates have been introduced to encourage households to use electricity for heating and hot water supply. These rates have also helped increase the number of consumers.”
Electricity consumption by Belarusian households has been growing by 40% every year for the last few years. The deputy energy minister stressed that the growth rate did not drop in 2024 and the annual consumption may be close to 1 billion kWh.
“A nuclear power plant of our own allows setting rates without heeding changing prices for energy resources on the global market. Despite turbulent prices for natural resources and other kinds of fuel on the world market, prices for electricity in Belarus remain stable and are kept at a certain level without substantial fluctuations,” Denis Moroz gave a thorough answer to a question asked by a foreign reporter.
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