Mogilev Oblast in east of country a potential location for new capacity
Belarus has decided to build a third nuclear unit at the Belarusian nuclear power station site and will also start surveys for a second station, state news agency BelTA reported deputy prime minister Viktar Karankevich as saying.
BelTA said Karankevich made the announcement following a meeting with president Alexander Lukashenko on the development of nuclear energy.
The government aid Belarus need for new capacity and studies had been carried out to decide whether that would be in the form of a new unit at the Belarusian power station, near Ostrovets in northwest Belarus, or at a new site in the east of the country.
Lukashenko, according to an account of the meeting on the president’s website, said the option of building a third unit at the existing site had the benefits of an already approved site as well as a skilled workforce and the necessary social infrastructure.
“The ground conditions there have already been thoroughly studied. There is no need for any additional surveys,” he was reported as saying.
Vice-premier Viktor Karankevich said the decision to go ahead with the third unit at the Belarusian site would also be matched by work to survey potential locations in Mogilev Oblast, in the east of the country, with the possibility of more new capacity in that region if energy demand supports it.
During the meeting, the performance of the existing nuclear power plant was reviewed, more than four years after the first unit came online.
Lukashenko said: “The construction of the nuclear power plant not only strengthened our energy security, but also determined the further development of Belarus as a high-tech state… we have provided ourselves with a source of affordable, environmentally friendly energy for decades to come, and have achieved an economic and environmental effect.”
Belarusian-1 became the country’s first nuclear power plant to begin commercial operation in June 2021 after being connected to the grid in November 2020.
Unit 2 of the Russia-backed project began commercial operation in November 2023.
The two pressurised water reactor units at Belarusian are both Russia-supplied 1,110-MW VVER V-491 plants. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the two plants provided a 36.4% share of Belarus’s electricity generation in 2024.
Belarus's energy mix is dominated by natural gas, which is the primary fuel for electricity generation, accounting for over 64% of total generation in 2023. Nuclear energy is the second-largest source.
