MINSK, 30 January (BelTA) – The handling of spent nuclear fuel of the Belarusian nuclear power plant (BelNPP) will cost around $2.5-3.5 billion. This information is provided in the Q&A section of the ecological report on the strategic ecological evaluation of the Belarusian nuclear power plant's spent nuclear fuel management strategy, BelTA has learned.
“Taking into consideration available technologies and international practices, the approximate total spending over the entire period of the NPP operation (up to 100 years) ranges from $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion depending on the options discussed in the ecological report,” the report reads.
As was reported earlier, three options of handling spent nuclear fuel of the Belarusian nuclear power plant are available. Two variants provide for sending irradiated fuel rod arrays to Russia for processing and storing the resultant high-active waste in Russia or in Belarus for a long time and then returning and burying high-active waste in Belarus. One variant provides for storing waste in Belarus without sending it to Russia.
The first 48 spent fuel rod arrays will be removed from the reactor about 1 year and 4 months after its physical launch taking into consideration the length of the commissioning period of the first power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. Over 60 years of the BelNPP operation, some 5,300 fuel rod arrays will be used with the total weight of about 2,500 tonnes of heavy metal (from the two power-generating units).
As for construction of a burial site for spent nuclear fuel in the territory of Belarus, the Q&A section informs that the work on selecting a construction site has not been undertaken. This work should be done in line with the Belarusian nuclear power plant's spent nuclear fuel management strategy.
The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built near Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast using a Russian design featuring two VVER-1200 reactors with the total output capacity of 2,400MW. The first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2019, with the second one to go online in 2020.
