Infrastructure plays an important role
By Ivan Dobrov
“The assessment notes significant progress in Belarus creating the necessary infrastructure to support the building of a nuclear plant,” explains the Head of the Department for International Co-operation on Nuclear Energy at Belarusian Ministry of Energy, Lilia Dulinets. She tells us that there are 17 recommendations in the final draft of the document, alongside several suggestions for further infrastructure development, improving legislation in the sphere of nuclear energy, strengthening regulatory monitoring, technical support and other areas connected with the nuclear energy programme.
“Most of the 19 aspects identified in the IAEA report on infrastructure show that the country has acquired the level of infrastructure necessary to commence building a nuclear power station. These include site selection, environmental security, integration of the power plant into the Belarusian power system and industry participation,” Ms. Dulinets emphasises.
The IAEA experts identified a number of good practises in Belarus, which the IAEA Secretariat will recommend for use in other countries. They attributed to such practices experience in the sphere of radiation protection and environmental monitoring, the creation of a special interagency commission of high level representatives from all concerned government agencies and organisations, and others. The commission discusses issues relating to the building of the nuclear power plant and a programme of staff training, adopted at an early stage of nuclear power engineering development.
During the final meeting, the head of the delegation, who heads of the Division of Nuclear Power in the IAEA Department of Nuclear Energy, Jong Park, noted the high level of competence of those Belarusian specialists involved in the nuclear energy program. In his concluding remarks, he expressed his absolute confidence that the nuclear power programme of Belarus will be implemented successfully, safely and for peaceful purposes.
In total, 14 experts from the IAEA Secretariat and states with great experience in the field of nuclear energy took part in the assessment, as well as representatives of more than 20 Belarusian state agencies and organisations involved in the implementation of the national nuclear energy programme. The final IAEA report will be presented in September 2012.