Rosatom: the Belarus NPP 1st power unit has been put into commercial operation

Minsk, June 11 - Neftegaz.RU. On June 10, the acceptance certificate of Belarus NPP power unit №1 start-up complex was signed (the general designer and the general contractor - Rosatom, pursuant to the contract, Russian company is responsible for performance capability of the power unit equipment during the warranty obligations period.)

Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom, said:

• Today, we are witnessing a historic event
• The 1st Gen III+ power unit constructed by Rosatom abroad has been put into commercial operation
• This is the result of a great deal of work carried out by a team of highly qualified specialists from the 2 countries, the evidence of reliability and efficiency of Russian nuclear technologies and our common success

Aleksander Lokshin, the 1^st Deputy Director General for Nuclear Energy of Rosatom, at the presentation of the symbolic key to the power unit noted:

• Now, you will need such a key no earlier than in 80 years, to close the plant only
• Handing over to the Belarusian colleagues the symbolic key from the country’s 1st nuclear power unit, I can say with full confidence that Belarus has become the owner of the most modern and safe facility

The stage of Belarus NPP power unit №1 physical start-up started on August 7, 2020, on November 3 the unit was connected to the grid of Belarus and on December 22, 2020 - proceeded to the trial commercial operation.

Belarus NPP having 2 VVER-1200 reactors with the total capacity of 2400 MW is being constructed in Ostrovets.
The main feature of the VVER-1200 is a unique combination of active and passive safety systems providing NPP with maximum resistance to external and internal impacts.

Thus, all power units are equipped with the «core catcher» - a core melt localization device of the nuclear reactor, as well as other passive safety systems capable to work without power supply and an operator’s participation.