Astravets Nuclear Power Plant

In the 1980s there were plans to build a nuclear heating and power plant in Rudensk, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Minsk. Following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, these plans were halted.[2] The plant was to comprise of two VVER-1000 nuclear reactors, designed to provide both electricity and heat for the city of Minsk. The reactors would each have had a power rating of 900 MW net and 940 MW gross capacity.[8][9]

The nuclear initiative was revitalized after Belarus gained independence from the Soviet Union. On 22 December 1992, Belarus announced its intention to build nuclear power plants and started a program to examine 15 possible sites. It was foreseen that the first unit of 500-600 MW would be commissioned by 2005, and additional units with a combined capacity of 1,000 MW by 2005 and 2010. However, no decision concerning site or reactor type was made.[2] In 1999, the Government of Belarus adopted a nuclear moratorium, but preparations for the construction of a nuclear power plant were carried on.[10]

On 2 May 2002, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated that Belarus would not construct a nuclear power plant on its territory, but was interested in purchasing nuclear power from Russia, and in the possibility of constructing a Belarus-owned reactor at the Smolensk nuclear power plant in Russia.[11] However, in mid 2006, the Government of Belarus approved a plan for the construction of an initial 2000 MWe nuclear power plant in the Mahilyow Voblast using pressurized water reactors technology.[4]

After the Russia-Belarus energy dispute in 2007, Lukashenko re-declared that to ensure national energy security, Belarus needed to build its own nuclear power plant.[3] In June 2007, Russia offered a US$2 billion credit line for the purchasing of equipment from Russia's Power Machines Company.[4][12]

On 12 November 2007, a decree defining the organizations responsible for preparing the construction of the nuclear power plant was signed.[13] The Belarusian Security Council made the decision to construct a nuclear power plant on 15 January 2008.[14] The Nuclear Power Act, covering the design and construction of nuclear facilities, the security, safety, and physical protection of such facilities, and their regulation (and also prohibiting the production of nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosives), was adopted by the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus on 25 June 2008.[15]

The location of the construction site some 18 kilometres (11 mi) away from the town of Astravyets in Hrodna Voblast, 45 kilometres (28 mi) from Vilnius, Lithuania,[7][16] was chosen on 20 December 2008.[1] Alternative sites were Chyrvo, Bykhaw ,[17] and Kukshynava between Horki and Shkloŭ in Mahilyow Voblast.[18]

In January 2009, it was decided that the nuclear power plant will be built by Atomstroyexport and the Russian loan was agreed in February 2009.[5][19] The contract was signed in 2011.[20]

On 1 July 2009, a Ukrainian NGO sent a complaint to the Implementation Committee of the Espoo Convention alleging numerous violations of the Espoo Convention. In particular, the complaint argues that Belarus is in violation of the requirements of the convention by pre-defining two key alternatives of the nuclear power plant construction – location and no-action alternative, as well as by not establishing an environmental impact assessment procedure that permits public participation.[21] In December 2009 European ECO Forum Legal Focal Points submitted a complaint to the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention challenging the legality of NPP construction due to violation of public participation rights provided by the Aarhus Convention.[22]

In June 2012 the construction of the foundation pit for the nuclear power plant started near the small village of Shulniki in Astravets District, Hrodna Region, some 16 km (10 mi) from the Lithuanian border.[23]

Both in March and April 2013 journalists were not permitted to visit the construction site. In March 2013 Radio Svaboda's correspondent Mikhail Karnevich received official permission to make a report about the construction of the power plant. But when he came to Astravets, he found out that he would not be able to visit the construction site.[24] In April 2013 journalists Ales Barazenka and Nastaśsia Jaūmien were detained in Astravets where they were filming the nuclear power plant construction and were asked an "intelligible explanation to the fact of filming the construction works".[25]

The first nuclear concrete for Unit 1 was poured on 6 November 2013.[26] The construction of the second unit began 8 months later. Construction of each unit is expected to take about five years.[27]

In November 2015, Lithuania informed that there is no possibility to reserve power of the Kruonis Pumped Storage Plant, aside from emergency case, for the Belarusian nuclear power plant.[28]

In February 2016, the 330-tonne, 13-meter high, 4.5 meters diameter, reactor vessel (which was the first reactor produced by Atommash after a 29-year hiatus) was delivered to the site.[29] According to press reports, it took Atommash 840 days (2 years and 4 months) to build the reactor; it was shipped from the plant on 14 October 2015. After being transported by barge over the Tsimlyansk Reservoir, the Volga-Don Canal, the Volga–Baltic Waterway, and the Volkhov River to Novgorod, the reactor was then shipped by a special rail car to the Astravyets railway station near the plant.[30]

On 10 July 2016, the reactor vessel for Unit 1 was accidentally dropped from a height of 4 meters while being moved around the construction site. Rosatom eventually agreed to swap the vessel with one intended for the Kaliningrad Nuclear Power Plant.[31]

On 7 February 2019, the Meeting of the Parties to the Espoo Convention decided that Belarus had violated the convention in choosing a construction site for its nuclear power plant.[32]

In December 2019, the first unit started hot trials, checking the reactor unit under hot conditions, but with dummy fuel rods placed in the reactor.[33]

In February 2020 the plant was inspected by IAEA.[34]

The tests were completed in April 2020.[35] Fuel loading for the first unit started on 7 August 2020.[36] On 11 October 2020, Unit 1 achieved first criticality.[37] The reactor started supplying electricity on 3 November 2020[38] and was officially connected to the grid on 7 November 2020.[39]