On December 22, 2020 the pilot operation stage started at Belarus NPP power unit 1 of III+Gen with VVER-1200 reactor (ROSATOM’s Engineering Division is the General Designer and the General Contractor), as specialists started a gradual reactor power increase up to the rated power.
A permit to proceed to this stage was issued by the Board of the Ministry for Emergency situations of the Republic of Belarus.
According to Mr. Vitaliy Polyanin, the Vice-President and Belarus NPP Construction Director of ASE EC JSC, “pilot operation is the final longest testing of the power unit prior to its commissioning. Specialists are to gradually perform a wide range of equipment tests and inspections at the reactor plant power ranging from 75% up to 100%, including dynamic tests with forced shutdown of various main equipment. Only upon verification of actual parameters and characteristics of the systems and equipment operation for conformity with the design values, the power unit will be put into commercial operation. We are expecting it to be done in the first quarter of 2021”.
Start-up operations at Belarus NPP power unit 1 started on August 7, 2020, when the first fresh fuel assemblies were loaded into the reactor core. On October 11, 2020 the reactor was then brought to the minimum controlled power level (less than 1% of the rated power). On November 3, 2020 the power unit has been connected to the unified power grid of the Republic of Belarus.
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Belarus NPP having two VVER-1200 reactors with the total capacity of 2400 MW is being constructed in Ostrovets (the Republic of Belarus). The Russian III+ generation design that is fully compliant with the international standards and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safety recommendations, has been selected for the first NPP in Belarus.
The Belarus NPP Unit 1 has become the first Gen III+ unit in operation built abroad based on the Russian technologies. Currently, three power units of the similar type have been successfully operating in Russia, including two units at the Novovoronezh NPP and one unit - at the Leningrad NPP. On November 7, 2020 the pilot operation stage started at the fourth III+Gen unit in Russia - Leningrad NPP Unit 6.