The Belarus Nuclear Power Plant's unit 2 has reached the minimum controllable power level with a self-sustaining controlled nuclear reaction.

Energy minister Viktor Karankevich has said the aim is for the second unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant to be put into commercial operation in October 2023.

Belarus is creating an organisation for radioactive waste management, the Ministry of Energy has said. The target is to put a facility into operation by 2030.

Belarus's Energy Minister Viktor Karankevich has held a meeting with executives from Russian nuclear fuel firm TVEL over future cooperation and joint projects in a range of areas including ensuring a balanced fuel cycle and training personnel in radioactive waste management.

A test link-up to the grid of the second unit at Belarus's nuclear power plant in Ostrovets is scheduled for March or April, according to the country's deputy energy minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk.

TVEL delivered nuclear fuel produced by Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant to the Belarusian nuclear power plant at Ostrovets in accordance with a bilateral contract agreed in 2017 - deliveries of nuclear fuel for the initial loading and the first refueling for each unit were included in the general construction contract.

The second unit at the nuclear power plant in Belarus is now expected to be connected to the country's power system in the first three months of 2023, according to Energy Minister Victor Karankevich.

Belarus's Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk said that work on the second unit at the country's first nuclear power plant is proceeding on schedule - and said that the feasibility of building a second nuclear power plant in the country is ongoing.

Minister of Energy Viktor Karankevich said that since November 2020 the first unit had produced enough electricity to replace the equivalent of 2 billion cubic metres of natural gas, with the second unit close to being ready.

Nuclear fuel is being loaded into the second reactor at Belarus's Ostrovets nuclear power plant. The plant's first reactor has already taken a significant role in the country's energy mix, said Minister of Energy Viktor Karankevich.

Two more rounds of international peer review have taken place at Belarus' Ostrovets nuclear power plant as the power plant's second reactor prepares to start up.

An expert team assembled by the International Atomic Energy Agency "observed significant improvements" in operational practices at Belarus' Ostrovets nuclear power plant, the organisation said, noting that some areas remain for improvement.