Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 20 April (BelTA) – The Belarusian nuclear power plant will help develop green economy, Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk noted as the participants of the international forum “Trade unions and green jobs” visited the NPP, BelTA learned from the Energy Ministry’s press service.

The event has brought together around 150 representatives of trade unions and scientific communities from 41 countries. They have visited an exhibition of the BelNPP information center and the construction site, and learned more about the construction progress.

“The Belarusian nuclear power plant is an important green economy project. Once commissioned, the NPP will make a great contribution to environmental protection: it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7 to 10 million tons a year,” Mikhail Mikhadyuk said. The BelNPP and the maintenance organizations are expected to create around 2,400 new jobs.

According to the deputy minister, safety is a top priority for Belarus in the BelNPP construction. First of all, close attention is paid to the quality of design documentation which is carefully examined by the customer’s specialists.

The quality of equipment is under careful monitoring at the stage of manufacturing and delivery to the construction site. The quality of works is strictly controlled, too. “Before the installment of heavy equipment, we make an additional check of the construction structures and foundations. For instance, before the installment of a turbine at the second power-generating unit, we examined the foundation of the turbine with the help of experts. The representatives of a special organization confirmed that the foundation is ready for the installment of the turbine,” Mikhail Mikhadyuk clarified.

Staffing is another crucial point. “Specialists for the nuclear power plant are trained under a general contract for the BelNPP construction and a government program to train staff for nuclear energy. To date, we have virtually prepared all specialists for the first power-generating unit in all the main fields,” the official added.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built using the Russian standard Generation III+ design AES-2006 near Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2019, with the second one to go online in 2020.