Major result of meeting convened by Lukashenko: third power unit will be built at Ostrovets NPP

A third power unit will be built at the existing nuclear power plant in Ostrovets – as announced by Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Karankevich commenting on the results of today’s meeting held with the participation of Belarus’ President Aleksandr Lukashenko

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the Belarusian NPP had given an impetus to the growth of energy consumption in the country, “In 2024, the volume exceeded 43bn kilowatt-hours, and an increase over the five-year period made 6bn kilowatt-hours. As regards the main directions [of the energy use], they include the installation of electric boilers in the energy system (instead of natural gas, electric energy is used there for heating and hot water supply in large settlements), the development of agriculture (additional lighting is used in the construction of new and reconstruction of the existing winter greenhouses), electric transport, data centres, and mining farms. The first mining farm began its work in 2023, and electricity consumption will double against the 2023 level. As early as 2024, all these areas made it possible to consume an additional 3bn kilowatt-hours, and the dynamics of electricity consumption growth continues.”

In this regard, according to Mr. Karankevich, issues of further development of nuclear energy were discussed at the meeting with the President today. “Based on the results of the meeting, a decision was made on the development of the Ostrovets nuclear power plant, which envisages the second stage for the construction of the third power unit. Simultaneously, work will be organised to explore sites in the Mogilev Region [for the possible construction of a new station in this region if electricity consumption continues growing],” the Deputy Prime Minister reported.