MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2020) The Belarusian nuclear power plant in the northwestern Ostrovets city has conducted a pilot launch of the turbine at its first energy unit, Belarus' Energy Ministry said in a press release on Friday.
"A so-called 'turbine kick' was successfully carried out at a 35-percent reactor power. The turbine was idled and the number of revolutions was gradually increased to the design value of 3,000 revolutions per minute," the ministry said.
According to the press release, this pilot launch is "one of the important procedures in preparing the energy unit to start generating electric power."
The Belarusian NPP is the largest Russian-Belarusian energy project, with the construction under supervision of a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear agency. The plant has two reactors with a combined capacity of 2,400 Megawatt. The first reactor was commissioned earlier this month and the entire first unit is scheduled to be launched on November 7.
The plant has passed all standard and additional checks of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
