Belarus, Russia ink general contract to build nuclear station

MINSK, 18 July (BelTA) – Belarus and Russia have signed a general contract on building a nuclear power plant in Belarus, BelTA has learned. The general contract specifies responsibilities and liabilities of the sides, the timeline of the project, its approximate cost till 2020, terms of payment, equipment delivery, organization of the construction process, acceptance of energy units and other things. The first energy unit is scheduled to go online in November 2018, with the second one scheduled for commissioning in July 2020. When the general contract was drafted, the core rationale was that domestic Russian prices will be used to determine the cost of the Belarusian nuclear station. The cost is calculated according to pricing procedures used to build nuclear power plants in Russia. The prices are also adjusted using a base and index method. The cost of the Belarusian installation cannot exceed that of the Baltic nuclear station in comparable conditions. Russia is ready to lend $10 billion to Belarus for 25 years as a long-term government loan on preferential terms. The nuclear station will save Belarus about 5 billion cubic meters of imported natural gas per annum. It will allow reducing the prime cost of electricity generation and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7-10 million tonnes while considerably beefing up energy security. Boasting two energy units with the total capacity of up to 2,400MW (1,200MW each), the Belarusian nuclear power plant will be built at the Ostrovets site, Grodno Oblast. Its design AES-2006 fully meets IAEA recommendations and norms. The contractual arrangement to build the power plant in Belarus was signed on 11 October 2011. In essence it is a framework document that has laid down principal provisions of the general contract.

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