the, what Russian nuclear scientists and the permanent head of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko have been talking about for many years, finally, it happened. On the red day of the calendar, I mean 7 November, The unrecognized president in the world gave a live broadcast command to put into operation the first unit of the nuclear power plant and ambitiously declared the country a nuclear power. If consider, that a nuclear power plant is a double-edged sword, that is, dual-use technology, - then we can say so. However, the music did not last long - the very next day the vaunted miracle of Russian nuclear scientists, not having time to properly "fiddle", got out of hand and fell silent.
About, that a "series of explosions" occurred at the newly made nuclear power plant, reported by local media with links to eyewitnesses and sources at the station. News in such a frightening interpretation appeared in many Russian and Western media.. However, the Belarusian authorities have denied information about the explosions, but they could not silence the immediate shutdown of the accelerating unit of the NPP.
As the vice-president of Atomsroyexport and the head of the construction of the Belarusian NPP explained to journalists (ByelAES) Vitaly Polyanin, the unit was unscheduled disconnected from the network by the action of electrical protection, at the same time, all design algorithms and block automation worked without any remarks. As it turned out, The voltage transformers from the measuring circuit of the block transformer protection are out of order due to an internal short circuit. Polyanin noted, that the equipment is made in Italy, and that domestic transformers will now be installed instead.
Generally, comes, Italians are to blame, who supplied low-quality electrical equipment. (Surely the relevant Russian authorities should clarify the price difference between NPP-sensitive products from a NATO country and Russian. How many and who received business trips to sunny Italy and "kickbacks" for the purchase of imported "spare parts" for the BelNPP on a Russian loan.)
Until the incident is over, and Belarus is back in the ranks of "nuclear" powers, by restarting the first unit of the NPP after an unfortunate incident at the start. Generally, thanks to all, everybody's Free. However, they think so, apparently, only atomic scientists, and the local and European community, especially in the neighboring Baltic countries, continues to seethe and discuss, what other surprises can you expect from this nuclear newbie. Note, BelNPP is the first new nuclear power plant in many years, built in Europe. (Although the opposite process has long been launched here - its countries are getting rid of nuclear power plants. The most striking example is Germany.) And most importantly, for the first time Russian nuclear scientists used VVER-1200 type III + reactors at NPPs abroad.. Within Russia itself, two of these are operated at the Novovoronezh NPP-2. The first was commissioned three years ago, the second - last year. And also - one reactor of this type at the Leningrad NPP with 2018 g. That is, there is no need to talk about any special "reference" of the new generation reactors.. rather, we are talking about forcing them.
And it is this aspect of the matter that worries unbiased specialists most of all.: how safe are new generation reactors VVER-1200. Serious concerns about him were expressed by experts in 2016 city, when a serious emergency happened at the construction site of the BelNPP - the reactor vessel "touched the ground" (nuclear scientists say so tolerantly), that is, it was dropped (critics say so). Then a heated discussion unfolded among interested persons.. Not about the fact of the fall of the reactor, but in general about its quality and safety.
This is how a Belarusian atomic physicist with 35 years of experience commented on the situation to the Lithuanian Internet publication Delfi., Director of the Institute of Humanitarian and Environmental Technologies Yegor Fedyushin: "Reactor (…) Is a complex structure, there are welded joints, devices inside the case. And I think for sure - this corps should be sent back to Volgodonsk. ... the building built there for Belarus is unreferential. (…) There is no work experience on this reactor, especially, it is made in Volgodonsk, in a new production. You understand, what is new production ". It is about, that the reactor vessel for BelNPP, manufactured at the production site of "Atommash" in Volgodonsk, became the first for this enterprise, issued in 2015 g. after almost 30 years hiatus. That is why Belarusian physicists (and not only) fought off this "pancake" even before the story of its fall. Generally, as the saying goes, there would be no happiness, yes, misfortune helped. Yegor Fedyushin told the media at the same time, that “I would send this reactor back and request a new, reference ".
What does reference mean? This is a reactor, built and tested many times in the developing country, which means, that the Russians should build a new reactor, check, finalize (they are always improved during operation) - and only then, making sure of its reliability and safety, offer to other countries. This is the world practice.
In connection with the "touching the ground" with the reactor vessel for the BelNPP, other details of the kitchen of nuclear scientists also surfaced.. Russian journalist Nadezhda Popova, atomic writer, applied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. In a letter, published by the opposition publication "Belarusian Partisan", among other things, affirmed, in October 2015 g. journalists have already informed the Russian Foreign Ministry about the nuclear reactor for the Belarusian nuclear power plant, "Which was assembled from old components in record time".
About second-hand, which is allegedly used by the corporation "Rosatom" to build new reactors, some media have been writing for a long time. In particular, old equipment, brought from the Bulgarian NPP "Belene", was installed at the Kalinin nuclear power plant in the Tver region. A deputy of the city council of the city of Udomlya told me about this (near which the nuclear power plant is located), in the recent past - mayor, local historian and editor of the newspaper "Golos Udomli" Dmitry Podushkov. Judging by the publications in the press, there were other similar cases. As I know, none of the Russian atomic elite has denied this information.
But, may be, in this approach of the nuclear corporation lies the low cost of building Russian nuclear power plants around the world? Can, and in world practice, the use of old elements in new reactors has become the norm, and therefore in vain the dissenting atomic lobbyists and journalists break their spears? There is still no clear answer to these questions..
But here is the latest news on the topic: "Dropped" in 2016 g. the reactor was replaced then (apparently, due to public noise and protests of Belarusian experts, as well as neighboring countries) for a reactor of the same type, intended for the construction of the Baltic NPP in the Kaliningrad region, the construction of which was deemed inappropriate and stopped. Interesting, that the proposed instead of the "dropped" reactor was produced on the old (verified) the Izhorskiye Zavody enterprise, included in the group "United Machine Building Plants". This is exactly, what the Belarusian specialists were trying to achieve - just not a beginner.
And the "touching the ground" reactor for BelNPP was returned to the Atommash site in Volgodonsk. As Vitaly Polyanin told the media, Vice President of Atomsroyexport and Construction Manager of the Belarusian NPP, "he (reactor) after all checks, it was recognized as absolutely suitable for operation ".
Good, of course, what is suitable - after all, the cost of a new generation reactor is not two kopecks. (by the way, Moscow replaced the fallen reactor with another, without requiring any additional spending from Minsk.) But that's what the specialists care about: if he's really okay, then why change it? The "atomic" bosses remain silent about this.
However, now for the further fate of the reactor "dropped" four years ago, you can not worry. Surely it will be attached - if not in Russia, then in the West or East. After all, as Polyanin told Kommersant, "Work on the introduction of these blocks (VVER-1200 new generation) the world will go even faster. ... we are working closely with our Finnish colleagues to obtain permission to build a similar block in Finland, work is underway with Hungary to obtain permission to build two blocks of similar design (NPP "Paksh-2"), a nuclear power plant is under construction in Turkey. We are going to build the first nuclear power plant in Egypt, we are in active phase of negotiations with Uzbekistan ".
Impressive plans. true, I don't know about the Uzbeks, but the finns, I think, surely they will be glad to get even a little "broken", but still a "suitable" reactor for your nuclear power plant. Suddenly the discount will be good?
Alla Yaroshinskaya
