Environmentalists Question Rosatom’s Words On BelNPP Readiness For Launch

The assessments may seriously diverge from reality.

Director General of Rosatom, the Russian state-owned atomic energy corporation Aleksei Likhachev said on September 24 that the first block of the Belarusian nuclear power plant was 97% ready, Belsat reports.

“The first block is in the highest degree of technical readiness, we estimate it is 97% of the project. Today we can schedule up to days all events and actions, including physical launch, connection to the network, reaching 100% power capacity,” he said. Important to note, according to the plan, the first power unit of the Belarusian NPP will be commissioned before the end of 2019.

Iryna Sukhiy, a member of the board of the Ecodom NGO, noted in a comment that, simultaneously with the statement by Likhachev, the NEXTA telegram channel reported that a number of defects were made during the construction of the BelNPP due to corruption. According to Sukhiy, this indicates that there may be other shortcomings at the BelNPP.

“We do not know what violations and problems occurred in the process of construction. According to some fragmentary information (something collapsed, the reactor vessel was broken), one can make a conclusion that there are probably a lot of violations and problems. Therefore, these 97% readiness can be very conditional. Outwardly, the power block may seem 97% ready, but with a real quality assessment it may turn out that this nuclear power plant cannot be launched at all,” she says.

Sukhiy emphasizes that one of the main requirements of environmentalists is the installation of filters in the ventilation system of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, which would not allow harmful emissions into the atmosphere.

“One of the main points that we insist on is the filters in the ventilation system. This is now being implemented at all nuclear power plants, since it can reduce radionuclide emissions during operation of a nuclear power plant in a normal, trouble-free mode. After all, all the stations still emit a significant amount of radionuclides, and at a distance of 10 kilometers this can cause quite noticeable effect. German scientists, for example, argue that 10 km from a nuclear power plant, the chance of getting leukemia increases several times. These are very serious things,” the representative of the Ecodom emphasizes.

Environmentalists also oppose sending spent fuel from the BelNPP for processing to Russia with the return of waste to Belarus. Such a plan was approved by the government this year.

“I think Belarus does not need to transport spent nuclear fuel to Russia, and then repatriate it back. There may be accidents on the railway, this only increases the danger,” the source said. Sukhiy believes that the waste should be stored in special storage at the NPP itself - which is approved by the current world experience.