Opinions & Interviews

VOLGODONSK, 26 August (BelTA) – The quality of equipment made for the Belarusian nuclear power plant meets the highest requirements, BelTA learned from Vitaly Shishov, Director of Operations of the Volgodonsk-based branch Atommash of the Russian company AEM Technologies, on 26 August.

Atommash makes reactor vessels and steam generators for the Belarusian nuclear power plant. According to Vitaly Shishov, the equipment has to go through several quality checks. It takes 22 months to make a reactor unit, doing all kinds of assembly, welding, thermal and mechanical processing operations. “If we consider the manufacturing cycle operations and the test cycle operations, the former account for roughly 40% of the total while the latter account for 60%,” explained Vitaly Shishov.

The Atommash Director of Operations noted that Belarusian nuclear power plant specialists can control the quality of the equipment. “Belarusian specialists are definitely present at the enterprise during all the key events, for instance, the end of the welding operations and other stages,” explained the executive.

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.

AEM Technologies was established in 2007. It is part of Atomenergomash, the mechanical engineering division of the Russian nuclear industry corporation Rosatom. AEM Technologies has an engineering division in Saint Petersburg and two manufacturing divisions in Petrozavodsk and Volgodonsk.