Opinions & Interviews

OSTROVETS, 4 August (BelTA) – All stages of the project to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant are closely scrutinized, BelTA learned from Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk during a roundtable session for Belarusian and Russian reporters in Ostrovets.

“In no-nonsense terms we tell our subcontractors to carry out scheduled monthly volumes of work in a quality manner. Quality is closely controlled,” stressed Mikhail Mikhadyuk.

According to the official, the bulk of the equipment is supposed to be delivered to the Belarusian nuclear power plant’s construction site in 2016. “By 2016 all the main buildings and structures should be ready to receive the equipment. The equipment cannot just lie about. Just putting it into storage would add to the cost of the construction project,” noted Mikhail Mikhadyuk.

In his words, the Belarusian nuclear power plant should become the safest power plant there is. To make it happen, efforts are exercised to secure high quality of construction operations, equipment installation and commissioning. Apart from that, highly-qualified personnel to man the power plant are being trained. “We keep an eye on the effectiveness of every ruble spent on the construction project but it doesn’t mean we cut corners as far as quality is concerned,” added the Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister.

“The nuclear power plant has to be commissioned exactly on the schedule specified by the general contract,” he said.

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.