Nuclear plant’s Unit 2 to be disconnected from grid for tests – energy ministry

July 31, BPN. Unit 2 of the Belarusian nuclear power plant “is undergoing tests of technological systems and equipment,” the energy ministry’s press office reports.

Tests involve checks of different operating modes at Unit 2, including its unloading and disconnection from the grid for further evaluation of equipment before comprehensive testing at design capacity, it added.

On July 30, the ministry denied leaked reports of “massive defects” at the nuclear plant.

Unit 2 is operating in a pilot mode generating electricity since May 13. Its commercial operation is scheduled for October.

Located near Astraviec, Hrodna region, some 10 miles off the Lithuanian border, the Belarusian NPP has been designed by Russia’s Rosatom and built with a Russian loan. Lithuania views the plant as unsafe and describes it as a “geopolitical weapon.”

Unit 1 started pilot operation in November 2020, and commercial operation, in June 2021.