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Second unit of Belarusian nuclear power plant gets auxiliary power

An archive photo

MINSK, 2 April (BelTA) – The second unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant now has power for balance-of-plant needs, BelTA learned from representatives of ASE Company (the engineering division of the Russian state nuclear industry corporation Rosatom).

The first 10kV section of the second unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant received voltage in line with the design layout at 19:20 on 31 March. This power-up procedure is a key event in the construction of every nuclear power-generating unit.

Over the course of 72 hours of uninterrupted test operation specialists will check the functionality of all the four 10kV sections of the normal operation power supply system. Once their compliance with design parameters is confirmed, electricity can be fed from this equipment to other parts of the second unit.

Aleksei Kononenko, Director for Construction of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant at ASE Company, explained: “The power-generating unit under construction will be connected to the standard power supply scheme stage by stage. Normal operation systems will be powered up first. Then electricity will be distributed via power supply systems of channels of safety systems and later on to consumers in the reactor room, the machine room, and other installations.”

With normal power supply available, specialists will be able to get down to full-scale startup and commissioning operations.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built near Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast using a Russian design featuring two VVER-1200 reactors with the total output capacity of 2,400MW. Rosatom’s engineering division – ASE Company – is the general contractor. The first unit is supposed to go online in 2020, with the second one scheduled for launch in 2021.

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