English

Three radiation and weather monitoring stations put into operation near future nuclear plant

A system has been created to monitor radiation levels and weather conditions within 30 kilometers of Belarus' future nuclear power plant, Volha Zhukava, a departmental head at the National Center for Radiation Control and Environmental Monitoring, told reporters in Minsk on Friday.

The system consists of three stations in operation on a trial basis in the villages of Hyarvyaty, Mikhalishki and Trakeniki to measure gamma radiation levels, Ms. Zhukava said.

Experts also suggest monitoring the concentration of radionuclides in soils and surface waters within the 30-kilometer zone, she said.

Under a project sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Belarus will receive equipment to keep track of radioactive aerosols in the atmosphere around the clock, Ms. Zhukava said. "Such aerosol stations are used in EU countries," she said. "This is very important when some accident happens so that we have information about radioactive contamination on a continuous basis."

The equipment would immediate identify the radionuclides that would appear in the atmosphere as a result of a nuclear accident, she noted.

Facilities have been completed in Belarus to monitor natural radiation levels, Ms. Zhukava added.

Belarus' nuclear power plant will be situated in the Astravets district, Hrodna region, some 10 miles from the Lithuanian border. Its two reactors are to have a generating capacity of up to 2,400 megawatts in total. The first unit of the plant is scheduled to be put into operation in 2017 and the other one in 2018.

The construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2013.

AtomStroyExport, a subsidiary company of Russia's Nuclear Energy State Corporation (Rosatom), is to bear full responsibility for the project as the prime contractor.

Under a November 25, 2011 interstate agreement, Russia is to provide Belarus with an export loan of up to $10 billion to cover 90 percent of the costs of the construction of the nuclear power plant. //BelaPAN