Monday, 17 March 2025
Lukashenko, who held talks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at which the two countries’ closening economic integration and a second nuclear power plant was discussed, said: “The construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant has become the most high-tech and large-scale project in the history of Belarusian-Russian relations.”
He said that the Belarusian nuclear power plant had been built despite opposition from Lithuania, Poland and some internal fears dating back to the Chernobyl accident.
The main reason for a second power plant was the projected increase in electricity demand as cars, heating and industry are increasingly electrified: “That’s why we asked the Russians, if possible, to build a second power plant. We will build it ourselves, except for the reactor. We have specialists.”
He was quoted as saying he thought the plant could be located near the eastern border, which would enable the provision of electricity to neighbouring Russian regions if necessary. He also said that other joint projects being developed bilaterally included a Centre for Nuclear Research and Technologies.
According to Russia’s official Tass news agency, a spokesperson for the country’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said: “The issue of building a new nuclear power facility in Belarus is being explored. We are considering several layout variants.”
The Russian President’s website’s report of their statements and press conference following the talks does not specifically mention a second nuclear power plant, but quoted Putin as saying: “Energy is a priority area of Russia-Belarus cooperation as well. Our country has traditionally supplied oil and gas to Belarus on favourable terms, which is a serious help for the Belarusian economy. A common electricity market has been formed and is operational; a major bilateral project for the joint construction of a Belarusian nuclear power plant has been completed. The plant meets about 40 percent of Belarus’s electricity needs. We see good prospects for deepening partnership in other high-tech areas as well.”
In November last year, Belarus’s Ministry of Energy said that a feasibility study for a second nuclear power plant – or an extra unit at the current site – was being drawn up for decision in 2025.
The existing Belarus nuclear power plant is located in Ostrovets in the Grodno region. A general contract for its construction was signed in 2011, with first concrete for unit 1 poured in November 2013. Rosatom began construction of unit 2 in May 2014. They are both VVER-1200 reactors. The first Ostrovets power unit was connected to the grid in November 2020 and, the energy ministry says, the plant will produce about 18.5 TWh of electricity per year, equivalent to 4.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas, with an annual effect on the country’s economy of about USD550 million. The second unit was put into commercial operation on 1 November 2023.
