Belarusian nuclear
power plant

The construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant proceeds strictly on schedule, BelTA learned from Mikhail Filimonov, Director General of the enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, during a tour of the nuclear power plant’s information center in Ostrovets as part of a media trip arranged for Belarusian and Russian reporters to highlight Belarus-Russia interaction in energy industry on 4 August.

Mikhail Filimonov remarked that all the operations are performed at the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant in full compliance with the schedule. “By the end of the year the construction of the first power-generating unit’s reactor building will have to reach the 44 meters mark, that of the second power-generating unit will have to reach the 22 meters mark,” said the executive.

At present the construction of the external and internal protective shells of the first power-generating unit’s reactor stays at the 22 meters mark. As far as the second unit is concerned, the internal protective shell is at the 8 meters mark while the external one is at the 22 meters mark. Work is in progress to build auxiliary facilities, the control building and safety buildings of the first and second power-generating units. The construction of the facilities that the entire power plant will need continues, including in the training center and public-access manufacturing zones.

Since the beginning of the year construction workers have installed 19,100 tonnes of reinforcement bars and have poured 111,300 cubic meters of concrete as part of the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. Since the project was launched, 68,400 tonnes of reinforcement bars has been installed and 456,300 cubic meters of concrete has been poured.

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.

There have been no problems with the financing of the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, Director General of the Belarusian nuclear power plant Mikhail Filimonov told the Belarusian and Russian journalists who are visiting the social facilities in Ostrovets as part of the press tour "Belarus-Russia Interaction in Power Engineering”, BelTA has learned.

 "Russia is fulfilling its obligations in full. There have been no problems. Financing is carried out in a normal mode,” said Mikhail Filimonov.

To implement the BelNPP project Belarus and Russia signed intergovernmental agreements, including on cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy, in the construction of the nuclear power plant, on nuclear safety, and also an agreement on the $10 billion state export loan to finance 90% of the value of the BelNPP construction project.

An acceptance inspection of a reactor vessel of the Belarusian nuclear power plant is scheduled to take place in late 2015. The information was released by Sergei Zaitsev, Head of the Office for Safety Assessment of Systems and Equipment of Nuclear Installations of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department (Gosatomnadzor) of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry, during a press conference held in BelTA’s press center on 17 June.

“Next week Gosatomnadzor representatives together with specialists of the enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant will visit the Volgodonsk-based enterprise Atommash where a reactor vessel for the Belarusian nuclear power plant is being manufactured. An acceptance inspection of the reactor vessel is scheduled for late 2015,” said the official.

The reactor is a vertical cylinder with an elliptical bottom. The reactor core and the internal components will be located inside. The reactor is hermetically sealed by a lid that also bears the actuators and mechanisms meant to regulate the process and protect the reactor. The lid also contains pipe sleeves that will be used to feed cables from internal reactor control sensors.

The Volgodonsk-based enterprise Atommash is a branch of AEM Technologies, which is part of Atomenergomash, the mechanical engineering division of the Russian nuclear industry corporation Rosatom.

Requirements for storing the equipment of the Belarusian nuclear power plant are rigorously observed. The information was released by Sergei Zaitsev, Head of the Office for Safety Assessment of Systems and Equipment of Nuclear Installations of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department (Gosatomnadzor) of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry, during a press conference held in BelTA’s press center on 17 June.

Equipment storage conditions were checked among other things during the complex inspection of the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant in May. “As far as storage is concerned, I would like to note that the hangars built for this purpose are indeed clean and dry. The equipment is kept in very good conditions. Requirements for storing equipment of the Belarusian nuclear power plant are observed. Access to the equipment is restricted. There were no complaints about the matter,” said the official.

According to the source, the production of equipment for the Belarusian nuclear power plant is permanently monitored. The quality is checked twice — at premises of the manufacturing enterprise and right before the equipment is put into storage. “All the documents are checked at premises of the manufacturing enterprise. As a rule, the work takes several days or weeks. Inspection certificates and equipment trial certificates are particularly closely examined,” explained Sergei Zaitsev. After that the equipment is delivered to the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant to undergo yet another thorough examination. Thus, the equipment is examined even after transportation, explained the specialist. It prevents equipment deformation, loss of documents and so on. The conformance of equipment with design documents is also checked during installation and commissioning operations.

A complex inspection to verify safety measures during the construction of the first and second power-generating units of the Belarusian nuclear power plant took place on 12-29 May. The inspection involved representatives of the Emergencies Ministry, the State Standardization Committee, the Healthcare Ministry, the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry, the Energy Ministry, the Interior Ministry, the Labor and Social Protection Ministry. Russian specialists — employees of the federal enterprise FSUE VO Safety — took part in the inspection as consultants.

As a result of the inspection Gosatomnadzor prepared and forwarded an inspection certificate to the enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant as well as a letter of order, which fulfillment will be closely monitored. This year’s second complex inspection of the Belarusian nuclear power plant will take place in October.

The Volgodonsk-based branch of AEM Technologies (part of Atomenergomash, the mechanical engineering division of the Russian nuclear industry corporation Rosatom) has finished the key stage in welding the reactor vessel for the first power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, the Atomenergomash press service told BelTA.

According to the source, another important stage in manufacturing the reactor for the Belarusian nuclear power plant has been completed. All the tests indicate 100% quality of the welding seam. “It is now extremely important to keep up the pace, complete the remaining manufacturing operations on time, and ship the equipment to the customer,” the press service quoted Atomenergomash Director General Andrei Nikipelov as saying.

The assembly of the top and bottom parts of the reactor with the total weight of 320 tonnes had been completed before. After that an automatic welding operation took nine days to complete. The welding seam area was constantly heated.

The production of internal components of the reactor proceeded at the same time.

The reactor is a vertical cylinder with an elliptical bottom. The reactor core and the internal components will be located inside. The reactor is hermetically sealed by a lid that also bears the actuators and mechanisms meant to regulate the process and protect the reactor. The lid also contains pipe sleeves that will be used to feed cables from internal reactor control sensors.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build an AES-2006 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The reactor unit has been designed by OKB Gidropress, which is part of Atomenergomash and provides designer supervision and support services. The first power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant is scheduled for commissioning in 2018, with the second one to go online in 2020.

AEM Technologies was established in 2007. It has an engineering division in Saint Petersburg and two manufacturing divisions in Petrozavodsk and Volgodonsk. Among other products AEM Technologies makes equipment for the nuclear energy industry, heat energy industry, gas, oil, and chemical industries.