Giving an assessment of the capacity of the firstborn of nuclear energy, the industry department of the Republic of Belarus specified that since the moment it was connected to the grid, its generation “is comparable to 45 percent of the annual volume of electricity consumption by the real sector of the country’s economy.” This, according to statistics, made it possible to replace 2.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas. In addition, the operation of the nuclear power plant prevented 4.3 million tons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere.
As SOYUZ has already informed, the reactor of the first-born of the domestic nuclear power industry was shut down at the end of April for a partial refueling of fresh nuclear fuel and additional diagnostics of generating equipment, which was explained by the experience of operating units at similar nuclear power plants.
By the way, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Belarus, the readiness of the second block of the station under construction, where technological and commissioning work is being completed, was 97 percent.
In this regard, observers remind that the plant with two VVER-1200 reactors with a total capacity of 2400 MW in the Grodno region is considered the largest Russian-Belarusian economic project. This type of nuclear power industry belongs to the evolutionary projects with third-generation pressurized water reactors of increased safety, the main feature of which is a unique combination of active and passive protection systems.
Moreover, VVER technology, according to experts, is the most demanded in the world. With its use over the past decade, facilities have been put into operation in China and India, it is planned to commission nuclear power plants in Bangladesh, Hungary, Egypt, Turkey and Uzbekistan.