Another Worker Dies At Belarusian NPP Construction Site?

The death of a young worker at the construction site of the Belarusian NPP was reported in the social networks yesterday.

“I just got a phone call – a worker died at the Astravets NPP two days ago. They say he was a young guy, just quit the army service, he fell down from a big height and died.” — Co-Chairman of the steering committee for creating the party “Belarusian Christian Democracy” Pavel Seviarynets has written on his Facebook page.

One of the Belarusian NPP’s workers indirectly confirmed this information to the BelaPAN news agency. He asked not to reveal his name. “Some three-four days ago, a man fell down near the construction pit. A young guy, just demobilized from the army. They say there was a check,” — the worker said, having noted he hadn’t witnessed the accident.

The administration of the Republican Unitary Enterprise “Belarusian Nuclear Power plant” does not confirm the death of a worker at the construction site. “The information about the deceased is not confirmed,”— Head of the department for information and public relations at the Belarusian NPP Edward Sviryd has said.

We remind, in September this year, Deputy Energy Minister of Belarus Mikhail Mikhadziuk informed to the journalists that three people had died at the construction site during the whole period of the Belarusian NPP construction. “The mass media claimed there were 10 victims. No, there were 10 accidents, not 10 dead people, at the construction site for all these years. Given such scope, when over 5 thousand people work at over 100 objects, the human factor, sadly, sometimes has its effect,” — the official has said.

According to him, only three of the said accidents left people dead. “In one case, the blocking devices engineer failed to fix the cargo (the cartridge) properly. Another accident happened due to the personal carelessness of the victim — he slipped on the ladder and unfortunately got a fatal injury. And the third one is falling from a height, when the worker failed to fasten the safety harness, although he had one,” — Mikhadziuk has said.

The Belarusian NPP is being constructed about 20 kilometers away from Astravets, Hrodna region. The plant will consist of two power blocks with joint capability of up to 2 400 MVt. Starting the first block was postponed to 2019 this July, due to the falling of the reactor vessel. The start of the second block is scheduled in 2020. Russia provided Belarus a $ 10 billion loan for the construction of this object.