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Lukashenka gives his official OK to construction of nuclear power plant

Alyaksandr Lukashenka on January 31 signed a directive of the Security Council to authorize the construction of a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in the country.

Under the directive, titled on the Development of Nuclear Power Industry in the Republic of Belarus, the first nuclear power unit will be started in 2016 and the second one in 2018.

According to earlier reports, experts currently consider two sites for the construction of the plant, with one of them located near Bykhaw, Mahilyow region, and the other between Horki and Shklow also in the Mahilyow region that has been affected worst by the Chernobyl nuclear accident along with the Homyel region.

The plant is estimated at $4 billion. It would generate some 15 percent of all energy consumed in the country.

The government is reportedly considering Westinghouse Toshiba, a US-Japanese venture, the French-German Areva Group, and Russia’s Atomstroiexport as major potential suppliers of equipment.

The construction of the plant was discussed by Mr. Lukashenka and officials of the Security Council this past month. The presidential press office said in its written comment that the discussion yielded an “ultimate political decision” to build the plant.