The European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) has approved the preliminary report on the peer review of the new Belarusian nuclear power plant in Astravets, following a mission by ENSREG technical experts to the site carried out on 9 and 10 February.
The preliminary report reviews the measures implemented by Belarus with regard to seven issues regarding natural hazards, loss of safety functions and severe accident management.
“ENSREG underlines the safety significance of all recommendations formulated in the 2018 PRT report and encourages its Belarusian counterparts to continue working on them to ensure and enhance the safety of BelNPP in a timely manner,” stated Marta Žiaková, Chairperson of ENSREG. “The full review of their implementation will be addressed in the second phase of the peer review, which is expected later in 2021, depending on the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. The peer review team’s final report will be compiled at the end of the second phase.”
The preliminary report has concluded that, based on the information made available and the site visit, progress has been made in implementing all recommendations related to the seven priority issues.
“It will now be important that the Belarusian regulator and the operator of the Belarus Nuclear Power plant carefully review the conclusions of the preliminary peer review report and address the remaining recommendations as well as any further improvements identified by the peer review team,” added Mrs Žiaková.
