Russia awaiting tender invitation to build a nuclear station in Belarus
In an interview with the European Radio for Belarus, Irina Esipova, Atomstroiexport spokesperson, said:
“It has just been confirmed that we have not received an invitation for tender yet… We heard that it was allegedly there, but I can make an official statement that we have not received it yet…”
Neither the Belarusian energy ministry nor the office of the general designer of the nuclear station in Belarus could clarify to the European Radio for Belarus where the tender invitation could have vanished. Uladzimir Babrou, a deputy director of Energoprom’s research institute in Minsk, confirms that the tender invitation was prepared back in May and notes that it is still early to name who will be constructing the first nuclear power station in Belarus.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Atomstroiexport insists that Belarus should pick the eastern neighbors as a contractor. Irina Esipova says Russia is the only country which has built a nuclear power plant abroad over the past ten years.
“Neither France nor America nor Japan have constructed nuclear stations outside of their countries. France shows its project on paper and says: “Look how beautiful this station is. We are going to build it for you”.
We don’t show pictures. We show an operational nuclear power plant which we built. Here is a station (in China) which is producing energy and making profits. Only Russia has built a nuclear power plant abroad in the past ten years”, Irina Esipova said.
Decision should be made promptly also because the costs of nuclear energy keep growing around the world. According to Irina Esipova, to build a nuclear power station cost Bulgaria $4 billion last year.
“Last year, Atomstroiexport reached a contract with Bulgaria to build 2 reactors type VVER-1000, each worth $2 billion. But it was last year… The costs of steel, raw materials, transportation keep growing all the time… US experts suggest that the cost of building a nuclear power plant will continue to grow”.
Belarus plans to build a similar station with two water-water reactors, 1000MWatt each. It is interesting that Belarus is still hoping to spend $4 billion on the whole project or 1.5 times cheaper that Bulgaria committed itself for last year.
It remains unclear how we are going to get such a significant discount. While the “nuclear inflation” is gaining momentum, it has already been three weeks that our invitation for tender is trying to reach Russia.
The tender has not been announced yet, but the costs keep growing… Moreover, the project proposal does not include the additional costs associated with the construction of a satellite town to accommodate the station’s personnel as well as with the replacement of electrical grids across the country.
The government maintains that lower electricity tariffs for the population are the main argument in favor of the nuclear power in Belarus. According to Uladzimir Babrou, a deputy director of Energoprom’s research institute, tariffs could be reduced by 10-15 percent. However, this will happen not earlier than in 2020. With the annual inflation of 10 percent, we will hardly feel the difference.
