Belarus plans to build nuclear power plant :: Charter'97 :: News

A top Belarussian nuclear scientist said on Thursday six sites had been chosen in his country for the construction of a nuclear power plant. However, he added the plan may not come true if Belarus has sufficient energy of other types.

“Our research does not mean that nuclear power plants will be built. We just have to be ready if we get a go-ahead. By 2020 we shall be suffocating from a lack of electricity”, Vyacheslav Kuvshinov, the director of the “Sosna” Energy and Nuclear Research Institute said at a meeting of the CIS commission on the peaceful use of nuclear energy in Kiev.

However, Belarus may drop the plan if it succeeds to raise the share of its own power-engineering, specifically coal production, to 25 percent of the total consumption by 2010. The price for Russian natural gas is also important, according to Kuvshinov.

He estimated two reactors with a capacity of 640 and 1000 mWt may be sufficient for Belarussian energy needs. The share of nuclear power-engineering in electricity production will not exceed 20 percent. Kuvshinov gave preference to Russian reactors.

The scientist said the main and the stand-by construction sites were located in Mogilev region. The Krasnopolyanskaya and Kukshinovskaya sites occupy a territory of some 10 square kilometers, he said.