Rosatom CEO says Belarus has most advanced nuclear plant

May 19, BPN. Rosatom CEO Aleksey Likhachev has described the Belarusian nuclear power plant (NPP) as “the most advanced” during his ongoing visit to the facility in Astraviec, Hrodna region.

“I can assure you that there is nothing like that in Europe either in terms of safety or in terms of investment efficiency and personnel training,” the Belarusian energy ministry quoted him as saying. He inspected Unit 2, which was brought to 50 percent of its capacity.

Belarus will save up to 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas and generate 18-19 billion kilowatt-hours when the two units are in commercial operation, said Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Hałoŭčanka. He described the NPP as the most important project of the past decade.

The Belarusian NPP is located some 10 miles off the Belarusian-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.”

Unit 1 started pilot operation in November 2020, and commercial operation, in June 2021. Unit 2 is scheduled to begin commercial operation in October.