Business news

OSTROVETS, 14 April (BelTA) – Plans have been made to conduct stress tests at the Belarusian nuclear power plant (BelNPP) by year-end 2016, head of the BelNPP operations service Viktor Turelsky said during the visit of the participants of a press tour for environmental journalists to the BelNPP construction site on 14 April, BelTA has learned.

“We plan to hold stress tests by the end of 2016. As soon as we get the results, we will send them to Gosatomnadzor and Rostechnadzor. After that, they will be submitted to the European Commission,” Viktor Turelsky noted.

The head of the BelNPP operations service pointed out that the decision to conduct stress tests was made by the Belarusian government in 2014. “A regulatory document stipulating the requirements for stress tests was drawn up in 2015. We have already prepared the Terms of Reference. The document has been reviewed by Belarus’ Gosatomnadzor. In March, we started looking for a provider of stress testing services,” Viktor Turelsky explained.

The company that will conduct stress tests at the BelNPP will be chosen through a tender. No final decision has been made yet. “At present we have two bids, one from Atomproyekt and the other from NIAEP,” Viktor Turelsky explained.

BelNPP deputy chief engineer for personnel training Vladimir Gorin said that the Belarusian side has invited a mission of the IAEA Site and External Events Design (SEED) review service to visit the BelNPP construction site. “We have sent a letter to the IAEA and are waiting for a response. We are ready to welcome them whenever they choose to come,” Vladimir Gorin stressed.

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.