Belarus to work out concept for decommissioning nuclear reactors with Rosatom

MINSK. May 18 (Interfax) - The Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (BelNPP) and JSC TVEL, the nuclear fuel division of Russia's Rosatom, have signed a contract on scientific and technical support for the preparation and decommissioning of the plant's generating units, the Belarusian Energy Ministry reported.

"The document calls for the provision of consulting services, as well as the development of a concept for decommissioning two BelNPP generating units. Possible options for carrying out this work will be comprehensively analysed and lists of the equipment needed for this will be compiled," the ministry said.

In line with best practices, the preparation of a concept to decommission a nuclear plant's generating units begins at the stage when the plant starts operating given the large amount of organizational and technical measures, as well as government agencies and specialized organizations involved in this process.

Belarus is completing the construction of the NPP based on the Russian VVER-1200 design near the city of Ostrovets, Grodno region. The plant will have two generating units with capacity of 1.2 GW each. The general contractor for the construction of the plant is Rosatom's ASE Group. The construction of the plant was financed with a Russian government loan of $10 billion.

The first generating unit of the BelNPP has produced more than 12.5 billion kWh of electricity since its start-up in November 2020. The second unit was connected to the country's power grid on May 15 and is scheduled to go into commercial operation in October.

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