By the end of 2015, 83.6% of the work to build the Belarus NPP in Ostrovets had been done by Belarus contractors, Belarus deputy prime minister Vladimir Semashkotold journalists on 19 April. The plant, with two VVER-1200 reactors is being built with Russian technology and financial support. Currently 27 of 32 contractors on the site are from Belarus, which also supplies building materials, including reinforcement bars, cement, sand, crushed stone etc. to the site. Semashko noted that Belarus has for decades been supplying equipment for Russian NPPs, and before that, for Soviet NPPs, as well as to overseas projects.
The Belarus Ministry of Energy has said that in 2016, about $445m will be spent on construction under contracts with Russia. This will include work on the main buildings and structures and installation at unit 1 of the reactor vessel, steam generators, turbine and electrical equipment. Also the start-up stand-by boiler house, primary facilities for in-house power supply, primary facilities for service water supply to the plant will be commissioned. Unit 1 is scheduled for commissioning in November 2018 and unit 2 in July 2020.
The nuclear utility, RUP Belorusskaya NPP, plans to submit a set of documents in support of an operating licence application for unit 1 in October 2016. Sergey Drobot, first deputy head of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department (Gosatomnadzor), said the expert review of the documents will take no more than one year. Gosatomnadzor granted the licence for the construction unit 1 in April 2014.
