Reactor For Belarusian NPP Manufactired By Company That Has Never Done This Before

The current "Volgodonsk-Atommash" and its Soviet predecessor have nothing in common except the name.

The main "compromise" in the security of the Astravets nuclear power plant was in the choice of the reactor manufacturer. It was manufactured by a company that has never manufactured reactors before.

Officially the manufacturer of the Belarusian reactor Volgodonsk-Atommash looks respectable: the largest in the USSR production association in the field of nuclear power engineering. The problem, however, is that the current Volgodonsk-Atommash and the Soviet one have little in common. The only thing that unites them is the name and location, the investigations program of Belsat "Let's look into the issue" ("Davaite Razbiratsia") states.

The plant was built in 1978 for the production of nuclear equipment. But in the 90's the plant went bankrupt and was privatized by the non-core private corporation Energomash. The new owner sold the equipment, and leased the building to various enterprises, none of which had anything to do with nuclear power.

After the liquidation of Atommash, Izhorsk plants, controlled by businessman Alexei Mordashov, became the monopolists in the production of nuclear equipment in Russia. Rosatom had long been planning to start up its own production of nuclear equipment, but could not find a rather reckless client who would agree to test the first "self-made" reactor. Unexpectedly for all, Belarus became such a client.

To fulfill the Belarusian order, Rosatom bought the building of the former Volgodonsk Atommash, gave it its former name and created there from scratch a new production of nuclear equipment. Minsk in return was given an opportunity to pay for the NPP in Russian rubles, which, given the local devaluation, made the project significantly cheaper.

As Atommash reports on its website, the reactor vessel for Belarusian NPP became the first they produced in the last 30 years. Despite the fact that Belarusians decided to be the first to test the reliability of the new manufacturer, Atommash has not yet found other customers ready to purchase its reactors, even in Russia.