Head of Rosatom says Russia and Belarus resolved all disputes over the construction of Astravets NPP

All controversial issues related to the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Belarus, Russia's nuclear chief Sergei Kirienko stated.

The Astravets power plant is being built by Russia’s Atomstroyexport company, a subsidiary of state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, under a contract signed in July 2012. The project is expected to be completed in July 2020.

“We have settled all disputes over the work of Russian organizations [involved in the project] and agreed that nothing should be sacrificed,” Sergei Kirienko, head of Rosatom, said at a meeting with Prime Minster Dmitry Medvedev.

According to RIA Novosti, Kirienko said that the construction of two reactors with capacity of 1,200 MWe each is going ahead of schedule. “The first unit is a month ahead of schedule, while the second is about 4-5 months ahead,” he said.

Belarus’s first atomic power plant is to have two nuclear reactors, with the first one to be completed by 2017. The turnkey contract reportedly costs some $10 billion.

The NPP is being constructed close to the Lithuanian border, just 50 kilometers away from Lithuania’s capital Vilnius, which has led to heightened concerns in the country’s government.