Belarusian nuclear plant’s Unit 2 launch planned for Q1 2023

December 19, BPN. The power start-up of Unit 2 at the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and its connection to the grid is scheduled for the first quarter of 2023, the energy ministry’s press office reported citing Energy Minister Viktar Karankievič.

Unit 2 is 97 percent ready and “scheduled maintenance work” is underway, he told journalists on December 19.

The ministry noted that the power start-up is only one stage of Unit 2 physical launch to be followed by pilot operation and commercial use.

Less than a month ago, Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Parchomčyk announced that Unit 2 would begin commercial operation in the first quarter of 2023.

This deadline seems unrealistic if work on Unit 2 is carried out at the same pace as on Unit 1, put into commercial use about seven months after the start of its pilot operation.

The Belarusian NPP is located near Astraviec, Hrodna region, some 10 miles away from the Lithuanian border. Designed by Russia’s Rosatom, it has also been built with a Russian loan. Lithuania views the plant as unsafe and describes it as a “geopolitical weapon.”