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After the Belarusian Emergency Ministry (ESM) announced on Friday that permission had been granted to the power plant to start generating electricity in Unit 1, VATESI claims that it has not received such information “even through the International Agency for Atomic Energy (IAEA) or directly from the ESM “and calls for the closure of the power plant.
According to VATESI, the energy start-up is another stage in the recognition of a nuclear power plant as suitable for operation, which may take about two months; During this stage, the thermal power of the reactor gradually increases to such a level (35-40% of the nominal capacity) that the steam generators produce enough steam. necessary to start turning the steam turbine and the electricity generator.
At this stage, the equipment is adjusted and tested, the turbine is started from idle and the electricity is started.
The Inspectorate states on Friday that it has asked the ESM in writing to clarify what security documentation the licensee must provide before each release phase to obtain a special permit (license) from the ESM and the timeframe within which the ESM must carry out a thorough review of said documents before issuing said permits.
“Unfortunately, the MEDE did not give such an explanation to VATESI, neither before the previous stage, nor in relation to this permit to carry out the start-up of the energy unit, nor with respect to other permits issued and planned,” says the institution. Lithuanian budget.
In a letter addressed to the Belarusian side, VATESI also emphasized that, according to IAEA safety standards, the purpose of the commissioning of a nuclear power plant is to demonstrate that the nuclear power plant meets all the safety requirements set out in the safety analysis report and asked the Belarusian nuclear power plant for each phase of commissioning.
VATESI reiterated that it is very important to ensure the adoption of decisions aimed at ensuring nuclear safety at all stages of commissioning of the Belarusian nuclear power plant.
Having evaluated the previous arguments, the institution affirms that the suspension of the commissioning of Unit 1 of the Power Plant “would be a demonstration of strong leadership in nuclear safety and adherence to the principle of safety first.
VATESI recalled that it was still awaiting responses to several previous letters raising safety issues related to site selection and assessment, the resistance of the Belarus nuclear power plant project to seismic events and major accidents of commercial aircraft, the implementation of recommendations of stress tests, probabilistic security assessments and other security issues. security issues.
The Authority reiterated the importance of implementing all the aforementioned security improvement measures as soon as possible and stressed that it looked forward to receiving direct information on the progress of these measures.
Lithuania is the biggest critic of the power plant being built in Belarus, while Minsk rejects Vilnius’ accusations of non-compliance with safety requirements. The European Parliament (EP) also adopted on Wednesday recommendations to the Council of the European Union (EU) calling for the postponement of the start of operations at the Astrava nuclear power plant.
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