Łukašenka backs draft nuclear waste deal with Russia

November 19, BPN. Alaksandr Łukašenka signed an edict approving a draft agreement between the governments of Belarus and Russia on cooperation in spent nuclear fuel management. The National Legal Internet Portal published the edict on November 19.

Łukašenka authorized the energy ministry to negotiate the deal.

The Astraviec Nuclear Power Plant’s first power unit started to produce electricity in test mode on November 3, 2020. It was put into commercial operation on June 10, 2021.

It has not been sending electricity to the grid since late April, when maintenance began at the unit. Four months later, officials said maintenance was completed, but in reality it continued.

On December 22, 2021 nuclear fuel was loaded into the second unit’s reactor. Its commercial operation was expected to begin by summer 2022, but this hasn’t materialized so far.

Back in March 2011, Minsk and Moscow agreed that the spent fuel from the Belarusian power plant would be returned to Russia for reprocessing. In August 2019, the Council of Ministers approved a strategy for handling spent nuclear fuel, prioritizing its reprocessing in Russia, with waste returning to Belarus.

On November 8, 2021 the governments of Belarus and Russia signed an agreement on cooperation in the transportation of nuclear materials. It came into force on May 31, 2022.