The event was attended by experts from the European regulatory bodies of nuclear safety, as well as representatives of the Department for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of the Ministry of Emergencies of the Republic of Belarus, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, RUE "Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant", AO Engineering Company ASE and others.
The participants of the event got acquainted with the exposition of the information center of Belarusian NPP in Ostrovets, visited a number of structures on the construction site of the station. The experts visited the buildings of the reactor, turbine department, management of safety systems, the integrated gas-insulated switchgear and other facilities. In the training center, the experts got acquainted with the training of the station staff, and also consulted with Belarusian specialists.
Authorized European experts worked in Belarus from 12 to 16 March 2018. 17 experts from 15 countries led by the representative of the United Kingdom's Office for Nuclear Regulation Mark Foy clarified and discussed the information provided in the National Report with Belarusian and Russian specialists, prepared a preliminary version of the report on the peer review.
The visit of European experts to Belarus is one of the stages of consideration of the results of the stress tests of Belarusian NPP within the framework of the peer review made in accordance with the obligations voluntarily accepted by the Republic of Belarus and in accordance with the algorithm agreed with the European Commission.
Head of Gosatomnadzor Olga Lugovskaya stressed that the Republic of Belarus, from the point of view of the development of the nuclear power program, remains in the status of a newcomer country, and in this regard carrying out the stress tests procedure is not only a reliable tool for testing and confirming the safety of nuclear power plants, but also a point of growth in relation to development technical competencies of all interested. The conclusions based on the results of the peer review will do a power of good for the development and further implementation of measures to improve the safety and capabilities of Belarusian NPP to withstand extreme external environmental impacts.
The head of experts Mark Foy noted that Belarusian side quickly and in detail prepared and, before the visit, submitted answers to a significant number of expert questions accompanied by additional materials, showed openness and transparency in interaction with groups of experts during the visit. It was a valuable exchange of information and a well-organized visit, including a visit to the construction site of Belarusian NPP.
According to Deputy Minister of Energy Mikhail Mikhadiuk, the project on which Belarusian NPP is being built, has already envisaged additional technical solutions taking into account the events that led to the accident at Fukushima NPP. Despite this, Belarus has decided to conduct stress tests on the methodology of the European Union in the interests of our citizens and to strengthen the global safety standards.
After passing the established procedures, including the visit of the representatives of the Peer Review Council for the results of the stress tests of Belarusian NPP to Belarus in June of this year, the final version of the Peer Review Report will be posted publicly available in July 2018.
In connection with the accident in 2011 at the NPP in Fukushima (Japan), the European Union decided to conduct a comprehensive risk and safety assessment ("stress tests") of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in order to assess how they can withstand extreme external influences (such as, for example, earthquake, flood, total or partial loss of electricity and loss of the final heat sink). Later, some non-EU countries, including Belarus, confirmed their intention to conduct stress tests on their nuclear facilities, taking into account the general approaches proposed by the European Union to this process.
