The power start-up of the second unit of the Belarusian NPP is scheduled for the first quarter of 2022. This was announced on Monday, December 27, on the air of the STV TV channel by the Deputy Chief Engineer for Personnel Training of the BelNPP Vladimir Gorin.
He specified that to date, all 163 fuel assemblies have been loaded into the reactor of the second unit. Now the task is to assemble it, fill it with the necessary technological solutions and carry out a set of necessary works.
In particular, as Gorin pointed out, we are talking about physical experiments for the next stage – the energy launch, which will take place in the first quarter of 2022.
Earlier, on December 20, the head of the Ministry of Energy of Belarus Viktor Karankevich said that the readiness of the second power unit of the Belarusian NPP is 95%.
Prior to that, on November 26, an act of readiness for operation of the complex of physical protection facilities of the second unit of the BelNPP was signed. Thus, the second power unit of the nuclear power plant will be taken under the protection of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus. The Ministry of Energy stressed that this is a prerequisite for preparing the unit for the “Physical start-up” stage.
On November 19, the first power unit of the Belarusian NPP was again connected to the grid after the shutdown, which occurred on November 17. As specified in the Ministry of Energy, this is due to the action of the automation. At the same time, the background radiation at the station and in the observation area after the shutdown remained normal.
A Belarusian nuclear power plant with two VVER-1200 reactors with a total capacity of 2,400 MW is being built in Ostrovets near the Lithuanian border. This is a Russian generation III + project that fully complies with international standards and recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on safety.
