MINSK (Sputnik) – According to media reports, an accident occurred on the night of July 9 at the construction site of Belarus’s first nuclear power plant when a nuclear reactor fell several feet from a crane. Rosatom’s First Deputy CEO for Operations Management Alexander Lokshin denied on Monday reports about the damage of the shell of the reactor.
"Employees of the contractor responsible for the failure that resulted in the abnormal situation have been suspended from work at the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant’s site… The abnormal situation occurred when a contractor was carrying out works at the site; the primary contractor must incur all the expenses in accordance with the general contract," Mikhadyuk said as quoted by the Belta media outlet.
He added that the shell of the reactor is now being examined to reveal whether it was damaged.
The 2,400-megawatt reactor is intended for one of the two power units of Belarus’s first nuclear power plant on the border with Lithuania. The first power unit is expected to go online in 2018, the second in 2020.
