Belarus nuclear power plant a vital contribution to achieving global clean energy goals

For immediate release: 3 November 2020

Belarus today joined the growing number of countries using nuclear energy to produce clean, reliable and cost-effective electricity. Unit 1 of the Ostrovets nuclear power plant supplied its first electricity to the Belarusian grid today at 12.03 pm local time. Unit 2 is expected to start next year.

When both units are at full power, the 2382 MWe plant will avoid the emission of more than 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year by replacing coal-fired generation.

Over the next few years, Belarus will be joined by Bangladesh and Turkey as new nuclear energy countries. Plans are also well advanced for new nuclear construction in Egypt and Uzbekistan, with many more countries around the world looking to nuclear energy to meet their sustainable energy needs.

Sama Bilbao y León, Director General, World Nuclear Association, commented, “Evidence is mounting that to keep on a sustainable and low-carbon energy path we need to rapidly accelerate the amount of new nuclear capacity built and connected to the grid globally. The 2.4 GW of new nuclear capacity in Belarus will be a vital contribution to achieving this goal.”

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