Belarusian nuclear
power plant

The creation of the nuclear power engineering industry in Belarus will provide additional guarantees of the country’s economic security, BelTA learned from Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk during the IAEA high-level seminar held on 2 February to discuss the development of nuclear energy industry infrastructure.

The official said: “The creation of a nuclear power engineering industry represents a brand new intellectual and technological impulse in the national development. It will also provide additional guarantees of state independence and economic security of Belarus.” Mikhail Mikhadyuk pointed out that the nuclear power plant will be able to substitute about 5 billion m3 of natural gas every year. It will decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 7-10 million tonnes per annum.

The prime cost of electricity generated in Belarus will be reduced. The Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister stressed that Belarus’ decision on developing nuclear energy industry relies on the country’s commitment to using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in a safe and reliable manner. The annual session of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seminar on nuclear energy infrastructure development is scheduled to take place in the IAEA HQ in Vienna on 2-5 February.

Belarus acts as the country in focus during the seminar. As part of the seminar Belarus will arrange presentations, including those meant to highlight the development of the national nuclear energy infrastructure, the establishment of the regulating body and the operating organization, and the management of the Belarusian nuclear power plant construction project. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the latest trends in the development of nuclear energy infrastructure focusing on the construction of new nuclear power plants, exchange of information and the best practices between participating countries.

The reactor vessel for the first power-generating unit was delivered to the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant on 24 December. Its installation will begin in 2016, BelTA has learned.

The reactor vessel was made by the Volgodonsk-based branch Atommash of the Russian company AEM Technologies. This piece of equipment weighs over 330 tonnes. It is 13 meters high, with the diameter as large as 4.5 meters. The reactor is a vertical cylinder with an elliptical bottom. The reactor core and the internal components will be located inside.

The manufacturer sent the product on its way on 14 October. Combined means of transportation were used to deliver the piece of equipment to the nuclear power plant. Heavy trucks transported it from the manufacturer to the Tsimlyansk water reservoir first. From there the vessel was shipped by river to Veliky Novgorod. A specialized transporter was then utilized to deliver the reactor vessel by rail to the construction site.

The manufacturing of the reactor vessel for the second power-generating unit continues. It is expected to arrive in Belarus in 2017.

The Volgodonsk-based branch of the Russian company AEM Technologies (part of Atomenergomash, the mechanical engineering division of the Russian nuclear industry corporation Rosatom) has finished welding the upper half of the reactor vessel that will become part of the second power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, the Atomenergomash press service told BelTA.

Before the welding operation the components of the hemisphere had to be assembled with utmost precision. All the parts had to be positioned relatively to each other, with the maximum deviation of only 0.5mm. The automatic welding operation took 15 days, with the welding area constantly heated. After the welding operation the product was left inside a furnace where it was heated to 300C in order to secure the necessary mechanical properties of the metal. The welding seams have to be examined now. After that the inside surface of the hemisphere will be covered with corrosion-resistant alloys.

The reactor is a vertical cylinder with an elliptical bottom. The reactor core and the internal components will be located inside.

BelTA reported earlier that the reactor vessel for the first power-generating unit is supposed to be delivered to the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant by the end of the year.

The training and education center of the Belarusian nuclear power plant is supposed to become fully operational in early 2016. The statement was made by Eduard Svirid, Head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the state enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, during the online conference hosted by the BelTA website on 1 December.

According to Eduard Svirid, the training and education center of the Belarusian nuclear power plant will be opened soon. “I expect that it will become fully operational at the beginning of the next year,” said the specialist.

Very serious, important, and expensive equipment is being installed in the center now. Eduard Svirid noted that a mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency visited the Belarusian nuclear power plant a short while ago for the sake of testing a full-scale simulator of the power plant.

The personnel training system of the Belarusian nuclear power plant is highly prioritized as a safety and security factor. “At present our specialists are going through on-the-job training at existing nuclear power plants abroad, including in similar training centers. Once ours is commissioned, they will be able to hone their nuclear power plant operation skills using the full-scale simulator. It will help prevent errors in the future,” stressed the Head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the state enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is supposed to get an education and training center of its own several years before the power plant goes online. Eduard Svirid said that the training center’s full-scale simulator will be a 100% replica of the real nuclear power plant’s control desk. “It means that the top of the table will be the same color, the chairs will be the same, the phone will be exactly where it is on the live control desk. Even the ceiling should be exactly the way it is in the live nuclear power plant in order to let people feel as if they were at their workstations. If some button of the live control desk is designed to flash a different color as part of a repair process, the same button will act accordingly in the full-scale simulator,” explained the specialist.