The First Nuclear Power Plant In Belarus Has Temporarily Suspended

The First Nuclear Power Plant In Belarus Has Temporarily Suspended

The first nuclear power plant in Belarus has temporarily suspended electricity production. This is the Astravec power plant (BelAES), which Alexander Lukashenko ceremoniously opened last weekend. It is not known when electricity production will resume. BelAES management stated that production facilities need to be set up. Information that the Astravec power plant stopped producing electricity appeared during the past weekend. According to unofficial data, the reason for the outage was a failure of voltage transformers on one of the units connected to the generator. Sources emphasized that the radiation leak incident did not pose any danger. The first unit of the nuclear power plant reached an output of 400 MW last Saturday. Alexander Lukashenko also took part in the ceremony on this occasion, calling the commissioning of the nuclear power plant a historical event in the life of the republic. The turbogenerator of the first unit of the nuclear reactor was connected to the unified electrical system of the country on November 3. In accordance with the test programs, it is planned to gradually increase the capacity of the unit to the projected capacity of 1190 MW. Commissioning is expected in the first quarter of 2021. Belarus is building its nuclear power plant near the town of Astravec in the Hrodnian region according to the Russian project VVER-1200. The power plant is to consist of two units with an output of 1200 MW. Commissioning of the second unit is expected in 2022, the Interfax agency informed. Lithuania considers this first Belarusian nuclear power plant to be a threat to its national security, public health and the environment. The concerns of Lithuania and several other EU Member States have been heightened by a series of incidents during the construction of the Astravec nuclear power plant. The AFP agency recalled that Belarus itself had been struggling for years with the consequences of the accident at the nuclear power plant near the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl.