Translated material
Turnkey reactor
Belarus is looking for a nuclear power plant builder
Belarus invited companies from Russia, France and the USA to participate in the competition for the construction of nuclear power plants . The date of the tender has not yet been announced. “An invitation has been sent to potential interested organizations from Russia, the USA and France, which contains an offer to confirm the possibility of their participation in the competition,” Vladimir Bobrov, deputy director of the BelNIPIEnergoprom enterprise, said at a press conference in Minsk.Minsk expects that potential participants - the Russian company Atomstroyexport, the French Areva and the American-Japanese Westinghouse-Toshiba - will respond to the proposal within a month. Belarus plans to commission the first power unit of its own nuclear power plant in 2016, the second in 2018. The power of the nuclear power plant should be 2000 MW. The cost of the project is estimated at $4 billion.
The winner of the tender will have to supply the reactor plants on a turnkey basis. The general supplier will be responsible “for the entire set of equipment, its adjustment, startup, safety and operating characteristics of the nuclear power plant,” explained Alexander Mikhalevich, a representative of the Academy of Sciences. Purchasing equipment in parts is undesirable, since Belarus has no experience in constructing nuclear power plants. Minsk hopes that the nuclear power plant will provide about a quarter of the country's electricity needs.
“Belarus does not have sufficient financial resources for the construction of nuclear power plants. This means that you will need to take out a loan. And it will have to be given away or exchanged for something,” Irina Tochitskaya, deputy head of the research center of the Belarusian Institute of Privatization and Management, told Vremya Novostey. If the Russian Atomstroyexport becomes the contractor, Belarus, as is customary in international practice, will receive a tied loan for the construction of a nuclear power plant from Russia, with which the Belarusian leadership previously managed to agree on debt restructuring.
Experts believe that this factor could be decisive for the results of the tender. After all, in order to pay off the loan on its own, Belarus will need to receive significant funds from the sale of electricity. However, Ukraine and Russia are provided with electricity, and the Baltic countries intend to implement their own joint project to develop nuclear energy.
“It is difficult to calculate what is cheaper - to build your own nuclear power plant or to increase the import of electricity, which in the future can be bought in the Baltic countries,” Ms. Tochitskaya told VN. She noted that “if Atomstroyexport becomes the contractor, if Russia issues a loan for the construction of a nuclear power plant and supplies nuclear fuel to the station, then it will hardly be possible to talk about diversifying energy sources and ensuring the energy independence of Belarus.”
Lukashenko appointed Putin as prime minister
Alexander Lukashenko signed a resolution yesterday appointing Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as head of the Union Council of Ministers. The Belarusian president made this decision as the head of the Supreme State Council of the Russian-Belarusian union state. It was agreed upon with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, reports the Belarusian state news agency BELTA.
The decision to appoint Vladimir Putin as head of the union government is technical and is associated with a change in the Russian cabinet. Previously, this post was held by former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, the government of Belarus explained to Vremya Novostey.
In a union state, the executive power is represented by two governing bodies - the Supreme State Council and the Union Council of Ministers, the chairmanship of which passes on the principle of rotation. One of the main activities of the union government is the preparation and implementation of joint Russian-Belarusian programs, as well as their financing from the budget of the union state. Olga TOMASHEVSKAYA, Minsk