Russia, Belarus resolve nuclear power plant issues: official

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia and Belarus have resolved all controversial issues that hampered construction of the first nuclear power plant in Belarus, Russia's nuclear chief Sergei Kirienko said Monday, June 2, according to RIA Novosti.

The Ostrovets power plant is being built by Russia’s Atomstroyexport company, a subsidiary of state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, under a contract signed in July 2012. The project is expected to be completed in July 2020.

“We have settled all disputes over the work of Russian organizations [involved in the project] and agreed that nothing should be sacrificed,” Kirienko, head of Rosatom, said at a meeting with Prime Minster Dmitry Medvedev.

Kirienko said that the construction of two reactors with capacity of 1,200 MWe each is going ahead of schedule. “The first unit is a month ahead of schedule, while the second is about 4-5 months ahead,” he said.

Belarus’s first MPP is to have two nuclear reactors, with the first one to be completed by 2017. The turnkey contract reportedly costs some $10 billion.

The NPP is being built close to the Lithuanian border, just 50 kilometers away from the capital Vilnius, which has led to heightened concerns of the country’s government.