“On December 22 at 10:11 am, the first fuel assembly with fresh nuclear fuel was loaded into the reactor core of the second power unit of the nuclear power plant,” the ministry said.
As emphasized in the department, in this way “the beginning of an important stage of the project” was laid - the physical start-up of the unit, the main task of which is “to confirm the reliability and safety of its work at the design parameters”.
In total, 163 fuel assemblies will be loaded into the reactor, each of them consists of 312 fuel elements with a diameter of 9 mm and a height of about 4 m.
Fuel weight in one fuel assembly is 571 kg.
"The commissioning of the second power unit into commercial operation will take place in 2022," the Ministry of Energy recalled.
On December 21, BelNPP was issued a license to start the physical start-up of the second power unit.