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Commissioning starts at first Belarus unit

Monday, 8 April 2019

Unit 1 of the first nuclear power plant to be built in Belarus has started the commissioning phase, AtomStroyExport, the engineering subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, has announced.

Commissioning starts at first Belarus unit — Unit 1 of the Ostrovets plant (Image: Rosatom)

The plant, near Ostrovets in the Grodno region of Belarus, is being built using the Russian VVER-1200 reactors to give 2340 MWe net capacity online. The first unit is scheduled for commissioning this year, with the second unit to be brought online in 2020.

ASE, general contractor for the project, said on 5 April the first stage of commissioning had started and that this comprised testing of equipment of the first and second circuits of the reactor facility, which will include hydraulic tests and circulation flushing.

The programme for commissioning water-cooled power reactors consists of four stages, ASE said. These are: pre-commissioning; physical start-up; energy start-up; and experimental-industrial operation.

"The main goal of the first stage is to check the performance of the design parameters of the systems and equipment of the reactor unit before starting to load the fuel," said Vitaly Polyanin, vice president and director of the Belarusian project at ASE. The hermetic enclosure of the reactor building is also being tested, he said.

An intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Belarus specifically on cooperation in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus was signed in March 2011.