Russian govt could approve construction of power unit No. 5 of Beloyarsk NPP by Feb - plant director

YEKATERINBURG. Dec 27 (Interfax) - The Beloyarsk NPP is expecting the Russian government will approve construction of a BN-1200 reactor at the station by February 2024, Beloyarsk NPP director Ivan Sidorov said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg on Wednesday.

"The roadmap for its [power unit] construction is being followed in accordance with the schedule. (...) The next thing we need to do for the BN-1200 unit is to obtain a government decree on the construction of unit number five at the Beloyarsk NPP by February," Sidorov said.

Public hearings on the construction of the power unit have already been held, and the materials have been sent for state environmental assessment, he said.

"This is the lead reactor in the series, which will continue to be distributed throughout the world; not only in Russia," the NPP director said.

As reported, the Beloyarsk NPP planned to obtain a license for construction of the BN-1200 power unit at the end of 2026, or in early 2027, and then begin construction of the reactor.

The Beloyarsk NPP was put into operation in April 1964 and produces about 16% of the electricity for the Sverdlovsk region. The first two power units with AMB-100 and AMB-200 thermal neutron reactors were taken off line due to the exhaustion of their service lives. The units with fast BN-600 (since 1980) and BN-800 (since 2015) neutron reactors are currently operating.