The Russian state corporation intends to implement the next stage in the development of nuclear power in the neighboring republic. Alexey Likhachev, who heads Rosatom, announced the preparation of legal and contractual mechanisms for the construction of the third power unit of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant. The statement was made at the international industrial exhibition "Innoprom. Central Asia" in Tashkent.
The technological basis of the project will be the VVER-1200 reactor, a water-water power reactor with an electrical capacity of 1,200 megawatts. This development represents Generation 3+ nuclear installations with enhanced safety systems.
We have an absolutely clear understanding of the technological configuration and the technological profile of the project. This will be another VVER-1200, our flagship export project.
The station's operating power units in Ostrovets use similar technology. The first unit was launched in 2020, the second in 2023. Over five years of operation, the facility has generated more than 58 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. The planned commissioning of the third unit is scheduled for the period from 2035 to 2038.
The implementation of the project will require agreement on economic parameters and the formation of an intergovernmental legal framework. The technical profile of the power unit has already been determined: the design will replicate the well-proven AES-2006 nuclear power plant project used in the construction of the first two units of the Belarusian station.
VVER-1200 reactors operate at several Russian nuclear power plants. Novovoronezh NPP-2 has been operating two such units since 2016 and 2019. Leningrad NPP-2 commissioned its first power unit in 2021 and the second in 2024. Abroad, the technology has been applied in Turkey at the Akkuyu NPP under construction, where four power units are being built, and in Bangladesh at the Rooppur NPP.
The VVER-1200 design provides a capacity factor of about 90%, which exceeds the performance of previous generations of reactors. For regional power systems, the commissioning of such units means stable baseload power supply with minimal carbon dioxide emissions: one power unit replaces approximately 4 million tons of coal per year.