MINSK, 7 June (BelTA) – Belarusian specialists visited the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant (a branch of the Russian nuclear energy concern Rosenergoatom) in order to get familiar with how licensing is organized at the nuclear power plant, BelTA learned from the Information and Public Relations Office of the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant.
The Belarusian specialists were interested in how the license to operate a nuclear power plant is obtained, how interaction with the licensing agency is organized, how safety parameters are evaluated by experts as part of the licensing process and in the course of actual operation of the nuclear power plant.
Licensing structures in Russia and Belarus differ a bit. In Russia all the nuclear power plants are run by Rosenergoatom. Nuclear power plants forward licensing applications to Rosenergoatom, which in turn directly contacts the regulating agency. In Belarus the nuclear power plant acts as a power-generating enterprise and an operating enterprise at the same time.
The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built in Ostrovets District, Grodno Oblast using a 3+ generation innovative design that relies on VVER-1200 reactors. The same design is being used to build power-generating units of the Leningrad and Novovoronezh nuclear power plants. This is why Belarusian specialists often visit Novovoronezh for learning and sharing the best practices.
The visit of Belarusian nuclear industry specialists was organized as part of Rosatom's action plan on creating nuclear energy infrastructure in Belarus in 2015-2017. The action plan also features seminars, conferences, technical tours of Belarusian specialists to Russian nuclear power plant with VVER-1200 reactors, and other events.
During technical visits to Russian nuclear power plants and nuclear energy industry enterprises Belarusian specialists get familiar with how nuclear power plant startup operations proceed, how full-scale simulators are commissioned and operated. They get familiar with the experience of operating testbeds and repairing fuel rod arrays, the technology for handling fuel rod array imitators, the organization of environmental protection work, and many other things.
The Novovoronezh nuclear power plant is a branch of the Russian nuclear energy concern Rosenergoatom. The power plant is located 42km to the south of the city of Voronezh on the bank of the Dnieper River. It is Russia's first nuclear power plant featuring VVER type reactors (water-moderated water-cooled pressure vessel reactors with light water under pressure).
