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OSTROVETS, 12 October (BelTA) – Results of the stress tests of the Belarusian nuclear power plant will be freely available to the general public, BelTA learned from Oleg Sobolev, Head of the Communications and Public Information Department of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor).

Gosatomnadzor has already prepared the national report on results of the Belarusian nuclear power plant stress tests using the self-evaluation report prepared by the nuclear power plant’s operating company. The report is being translated and will be forwarded to the European Commission soon.

In line with the European Commission’s procedures the report will be publicly available from the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) website. “Everyone will be able to access this information at the same time. Certainly, we are going to prepare news releases to keep everyone informed about when it will happen. It may happen by the end of the month,” said the official.

Belarus stress-tested its nuclear power plant in 2016 using European methods and taking into account recommendations based on the European Commission’s and the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group’s (ENSREG) specifications. As part of the stress testing process the resilience of the Belarusian nuclear power plant as well as its adaptation to extreme impacts was tested. The safe operation of the nuclear power plant in the face of extreme external impacts was evaluated. Consequences of natural phenomena were forecasted such as combinations of floods, extreme weather conditions and external impacts, consequences of the nuclear power plant’s losing safety functions due to the loss of external power.

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.