Representatives of the European Group of Nuclear Safety Regulators (ENSREG) have begun work at the site of the Belarusian NPP as part of a partner review of the national action plan following the results of stress tests of the plant, the press service of the Ministry of Energy of Belarus said.
Stress tests were carried out at BelNPP in 2016-2018 according to the methodology of the European Union. In the course of them, the reliability of the nuclear power plant was checked in the event of natural disasters, as well as in case of man-made accidents. No safety deficiencies were identified as a result of testing.
“The expert group consists of 9 people. These are representatives of Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Lithuania, Ukraine, Finland. The group is headed by the Director General of the Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of Finland (STUK) Petteri Tiippana”, – the Belarusian Ministry of Energy in Telegram.
It is noted that the expert group will work at the station on February 9 and 10. During this time, she will inspect the facilities of the station, get acquainted with the materials, which reflect information on the implementation of the activities of the national action plan based on the results of stress tests, and also ask questions to representatives of Belarusian departments and specialists of the station.
The Belarusian NPP is the largest Russian-Belarusian economic project; the general contractor for its construction is Atomstroyexport (part of Rosatom). The plant with two VVER-1200 reactors with a total installed electrical capacity of 2,400 MW is located in Ostrovets (Grodno region). The official ceremony dedicated to the start of work of Unit 1 took place on November 7.
The neighboring states of Belarus have repeatedly expressed concern about the launch of the facility. So, in November 2020, Lithuania sent a note to Minsk, in which it called on to stop the start-up of the nuclear power plant, allegedly due to “non-compliance with safety standards”.