General contract for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus is expected to be signed on June 17, reported Atomenergoproyekt Nizhniy Novgorod Engineering Company (NIAEP), the management company of Russia’s AtomStroyExport (ASE).
According to the report, Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Uladzimir Siamashka and government officials and managers responsible for the project, which is to be carried out by ASE, held a meeting in Astravec, Hrodna region, on May 10 and inspected the construction site, where office buildings and social and technical infrastructure facilities are currently under construction.
The foundation pit will start being excavated on May 31, the report says.
NIAEP notes that the number of staff working at the construction site will increase from 245 in May this year to 2,600 at the end of 2013.
A contract signed by Mikhail Filimonau, head of Belarus’ Nuclear Power Plant Construction Directorate, and ASE President Aleksandr Glukhov in St. Petersburg, Russia, on October 11, 2011 provides for the construction of a 2400 MW two-unit plant using VVER-1200/491 (AES-2006) pressurized water reactors on a turnkey basis.
The plant will be located in the Astravets district some 10 miles from the Lithuanian border. The first unit of the plant is scheduled to be put into operation in 2017 and the other one in 2018 or 2019.
According to the Strategy for the Development of the Energy Potential of the Republic of Belarus for the period until the end of 2020, a total of $9,334 million is to be spent between 2011 and 2020 on the construction of the nuclear power plant. The Strategy says that $3 billion will be spent on the project between 2011 and 2015 and $6,334 million between 2016 and 2020.
