On October 30, 2020 at the Belarusian NPP (General Designer and General Contractor: Engineering Division of ROSATOM), specialists brought the turbo aggregate rotors to the nominal idle speed (without grid connection), which is one of the most important and crucial operations at the stage of the unit preparation for electricity generation. The rotation start is called “turbine start from rest” in technical jargon.
“The turbine unit achieved the nominal speed in accordance with the test program. All performances, including the vibration state, are normal, which allows us to begin the program of testing the turbine at idle speed and the generator before grid connection,” said Vitaly Polyanin, Vice President, Director of the Belarusian NPP construction project, ASE EC JSC.
The start-up program began at unit 1 of the Belarusian NPP on August 7, 2020, when the first fuel assembly with fresh nuclear fuel was loaded into the reactor. On October 11, at the stage of the physical start-up, the reactor achieved first criticality (less than 1% of the rated power). The physical start-up stage included more than 50 physical measurements that confirmed the compliance of the reactor nuclear and physical characteristics with the design. On October 23, 2020, Belarusian NPP State Enterprise and ASE EC JSC (Engineering Division of ROSATOM) received the permission for the power start-up staged program at unit 1 from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus.
At present, the unit power is being gradually increased up to 40%. In the coming days, a series of tests provided for by the unit commissioning program will be carried out on the equipment and process systems. After that, unit 1 will be connected to the grid and begin to supply the first kilowatt-hours to the unified energy system of the Republic of Belarus.
The Belarusian NPP with two reactors of VVER-1200 type with a total capacity of 2,400 MW is being built in Ostrovets (the Republic of Belarus). The first nuclear power plant in Belarus is based on the Russian Gen 3+ design, which fully complies with international safety standards and recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Power unit 1 of the Belarusian NPP is the first unit of the latest generation “3+” built abroad based on the Russian technologies. Three power units of this type are now successfully operated in Russia: two units are at the Novovoronezh NPP and one unit is at the Leningrad NPP. Unit 6 of the Leningrad NPP, which is the fourth Russian power unit of generation “3+” was successfully connected to the grid on October 22.
