Belarusian specialists study refueling procedures at Rostov nuclear power plant

Specialists of the Belarusian nuclear power plant visited the Rostov nuclear power plant and studied the local refueling procedures, BelTA has learned.

Belarusian specialists were interested in the experience of reloading nuclear fuel. This is why their visit coincided with the scheduled maintenance of the first unit of the Rostov nuclear power plant and the accompanying refueling procedure. As part of the refueling process the calculated number of spent fuel rod arrays was extracted from the reactor, with fresh rods inserted instead.

The Belarusian specialists were interested in taking a closer look at the procedure due to the forthcoming launch of the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant.

The visit was arranged as part of this year’s program on cooperation between Rosenergoatom Concern and the state enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant. The Belarusian specialists studied engineering documentation, watched the refueling process from the operator’s workstation, and were made familiar with the operation of the reactor unit control and diagnostics system.

Another group of Belarusian nuclear industry specialists will arrive at the Rostov nuclear power plant on 1 October to get familiar with how a nuclear reactor is supposed to reach the minimum controlled reactor power.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast and will feature two Russian-design units VVER-1200 with the total output capacity of 2,400MW. The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built using the Russian standard Generation III+ nuclear power plant design AES-2006. The design is compliant with modern post-Fukushima safety standards, environmental protection standards, and sanitary and hygienic legislation.