Siamashka: Belarus Can Build Two More Nuclear Power Units

Additional power units will be built in a "short time".

Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Siamashka said at the Atomexpo-2018 forum that Belarus does not exclude the possibility of building two more power units of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, interfax.by. reports.

"I do not exaggerate, but 90 percent of the population is happy that the station is being built, that it will be a beautiful city, that it will all be safe and normal. Therefore, public opinion in Belarus is for the station to exist. And we think that these are the first two (power units – ed.), I think that there will be two more power units in a short time," – he said.

Previously, Siamashka announced that they plan to make the first power unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant work at its full capacity by the end of 2019, and to launch the second power unit by July 2020.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built according to the Russian project VVER-1200. It will consist of two power units with a capacity of 1,200 MW each. The launch of the first power unit is planned for 2019, the second - for 2020. The general contractor for the construction of the nuclear power plant is Atomstroyexport (part of the Rosatom state corporation).

The authorities of Lithuania, near the borders of which the station is being constructed, and Belarusian democratic activists demand to freeze construction because of the danger of a recurrence of the ecological catastrophe, similar to the Chernobyl accident. The first two power units of the BelNPP were in emergency situations and several resonant emergency situations already occurred during the construction of the station.