Russian experience for building radiation monitoring system in Belarus

Belarus will draw from Russian experience to create an automated radiation environment monitoring system. The information was released by Olga Zhukova, Candidate of Science (Engineering), Head of the Radiation and Ecological Monitoring Research Department of the National Center for Hydrometeorology, Radioactive Pollution Control, and Environmental Monitoring of Belarus, during the online conference hosted by the BelTA website on 19 May.

According to the source, an automated radiation environment monitoring system has already been deployed in Russia to cover all the nuclear power plants and nuclear industry enterprises. “We would like to deploy a similar system in Belarus. We plan to finish setting up the system in 2017, one year ahead of the launch of the nuclear power plant’s first power-generating unit,” noted Olga Zhukova.

In particular, the Belarusian weather service cooperates with the R&D group Typhoon of the Russian weather service. “We cooperate within the framework of the Union State program on meteorology and environmental pollution monitoring. For the sake of forecasting the propagation of radioactive pollution by air in an emergency we rely on the software product RECASS NT developed by Typhoon. Information about gamma radiation power levels registered by monitoring stations of the Russian weather service and observation stations of the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry is constantly shared,” explained Olga Zhukova.

Radiation background sensors of the Russian radiation monitoring system work on their own, sending averaged figures to the system’s central control station every minute and every hour. The data is automatically pushed to the website www.russianatom.ru. Since the data is automatically displayed on the website, users can rest assured it has not been tempered with. All the information is freely available to any person. “You can select a sensor on the map to see results of gamma radiation measurements in this location over a period of time,” said the representative of the Belarusian weather service.

In her words, the deployment of the system will discourage the distribution of incorrect information about worsening radiation environment.

The basic configuration of the automated radiation environment monitoring system has been deployed near the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The system comprises three automatic stations in Gervyaty, Mikhalishki, and Trokeniki that record gamma radiation power levels and meteorological parameters. “We are going to expand the system. Similar stations will be deployed in Oshmyany, Kotlovka, Gudogai, Kamelishki and so on. At present gamma radiation power levels in the area vary between 0.07 and 0.12 µSv/h,” said Olga Zhukova.

In accordance with article 32 of the law on nuclear energy uses the operator of the Belarusian nuclear power plant is supposed to monitor radiation levels in the sanitary protection zone and the observation zone of the nuclear power plant. Thus, the operator of the nuclear power plant will take care of creating and operating the automated radiation environment monitoring system in the observation zone. Acting on behalf of the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry, the Belarusian weather service will take care of deploying the system, including in populated localities near the Belarusian-Lithuanian border.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build an AES-2006 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The power plant will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2,400MW (2x1,200MW). The Russian merged company OAO NIAEP – ZAO ASE is the general designer and the general contractor of the project. In line with the general contract for building the nuclear power plant the first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018, with the second one to go online in 2020.