Rosatom: Fuel loading begins at Belarusian NPP unit 1

Minsk, August 10 - Neftegaz.RU. On August 7, fuel loading began at the Belarusian NPP Unit 1. Rosatom Engineering Division is the general designer and general contractor of the NPP. At 11:45 the 1st fuel assembly was loaded into the reactor of Unit 1. A total of 163 assemblies will be loaded before the end of the month.

Following the fuel loading, the reactor will reach the minimum controllable level (1% of the total power capacity) and relevant tests will be performed. From that moment on, the reactor acquires the status of a nuclear power facility. After reliability and safety of the power unit at its design parameters are verified, the next stage of the power start-up will begin and the reactor will be connected to the grid for the 1st time.

“Belarus has become the owner of a power unit built according to the latest Gen 3+ technologies. This technology has been proved and tested through the operation of similar power units in Russia. They meet all the post-Fukushima safety requirements, and all the IAEA missions have recognized their reliability,” Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev said on the occasion.

Belarusian NPP Unit 1 became the 1st unit of the newest Gen 3+ built using Russian technologies abroad. Currently, 3 power units of this type are successfully operated in Russia: 2 at the Novovoronezh NPP and one at the Leningrad NPP. Furthermore, in July, construction was completed and start-up operations began at the 4th Russian Gen 3+ power unit at the Leningrad NPP Unit 6.

Today, Finland, Hungary, Turkey, Bangladesh, Egypt and others choose NPPs with Gen 3+ power units of Russian design. Atomenergomash is a supplier of all key equipment of the nuclear island for the Belarusian NPP. The fuel was produced at the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant; its enrichment level varies from 1.3% to 4.4%.

Rosatom is a recognized global leader and the only company in the world that implements the serial construction of NPPs abroad. Around the world, 102 nuclear power facilities of Russian design have been built, including 78 power units with VVER reactors. Today, Rosatom's international order portfolio includes 36 VVER units at different stages of implementation in 12 countries, of which 25 units are under construction in 9 countries.