The Expert Told Why the BelNPP Stopped Working

The official versions of the Belarusian authorities hide the truth.

The first power unit of the Belarusian NPP was disconnected from the grid on July 12 due to the activation of the automatic generator protection. And it still doesn't work.

The tests performed revealed the need to replace one of the elements of the turbine generator exciter. "Corresponding work is being carried out with the involvement of specialists from the Russian manufacturer. Upon their completion, additional testing and diagnostics of the turbogenerator equipment and systems will be organized at the unit, after which the unit will be included in the network," reports the official Telegram Channel of the Ministry of Energy.

Why does BelNPP regularly shut down after the official launch on November 7, 2020? Why does the Ministry of Energy not announce the completion date of the repair?

Andrei Azharouski, an engineer-physicist, an expert of the Belarusian Anti-Nuclear Company (BAYAK) presented his versions to the newspaper Belarusy and Rynok.

- I will explain to the readers what a generator exciter is. In simple words, it is a small generator that helps the main generator generate current. Without this device, the power unit cannot work: it is like a car without one wheel.

The Ministry of Energy mentioned that the system was inoperable but did not say how long the repair would take. At first, they promised to fix it by mid-August. The middle of August came - people got worried, the Ministry of Energy made a new statement but did not even name the approximate time of the repair. In addition, nothing is said about whose fault the equipment failed, as well as who will pay for repairs and downtime. Indeed, in such an accident, there may be three culprits: the manufacturer, builders, or operating personnel. None of them can now be ruled out.

Official sources hide the truth, and people can only guess what really happened. I'll tell you about possible versions, but, again, these are just guesses.

One of the possible reasons is a mistake by a Russian manufacturer. This is not the first accident at Rosatom NPP-2006 related to the electrical part. A similar accident occurred at the Novovoronezh NPP in 2016, when it was just launched. A short circuit has occurred, resulting in a burned-out generator starter. Then the renovation took several months.

The Ministry of Energy of Belarus is great friends with Rosatom, and, perhaps, they keep silent so as not to offend the “big brother.” The lack of information on the timing of the repair speaks first of all about the seriousness of the problem: the Russian manufacturer does not say when it will replace the broken unit. I think the situation is similar to that in Novovoronezh: a complete replacement of some of the elements of electrical equipment is required, for example, the same exciter. For such powerful units such devices are produced in batches per year, you can't buy them on the market. It may even be necessary not just to redo the defective part but to make changes in the design.

Four such power units have been built in Russia, but BelNPP, it seems to me, is the most problematic. Even in Novovoronezh, where a VVER-1200 power unit was assembled for the first time, there were fewer problems. At Russian NPPs, all problems were mostly solved at the pilot operation stage, which is designed to identify defects.