Belarus looking at potential radioactive waste disposal site locations
Belarus Energy Minister Denis Moroz has said the country is looking at potentially locating its planned radioactive waste disposal facility in the Grodno, Mogilev or Gomel areas.
According to the official Belta news agency Moroz told the Belarus 1 TV channel that there is a current storage facility at the site of the country's nuclear power plant, but a purpose-built site is required by 2030.
He said: "The construction of such a facility is a large-scale and complex task. It should be as transparent as possible to the world community and to the citizens of the Republic of Belarus."
He said that they were following the International Atomic Energy Agency's recommended process for site selection. He said that geological and environmental studies had been taking place and pre-project documentation was being prepared for potential sites before a full environmental impact assessment and public consultations.
According to Belta, during the interview he also discussed the on-going feasibility study into future expansion of nuclear energy capacity in Belarus. The study is due to be published this year and is considering whether to build a third unit at the existing Ostrovets plant, or to build a new plant.
He said the study was in its "final stages" and that both options had been found to be technically and economically feasible.
The Belarus nuclear power plant has two VVER-1200 reactors and is located in Ostrovets in the Grodno region. A general contract for the construction was signed in 2011, with first concrete on the first unit in November 2013. Construction of unit 2 began in May 2014. The first power unit was connected to the grid in November 2020, with the second unit put into commercial operation in November 2023. More than a quarter of Belarus's electricity is now generated by nuclear.
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