I forward this article from BelTa, Belarus News, the Belarusian Telegraph Agency, about the choice of a VVER-1200 or AES-2006 nuclear reactor design for its first nuclear power plant, a design which complies with the European standards and norms of security. The commissioning of the first reactor is scheduled for 2016 or 2017.

The Nuclear Power Plant of Astravets (Ostrovets) is situated near the border with Lithuania, 45 kilometres from Vilnius.

Belarusian NPP in Astravets (Ostrovets)
(source : Sosny, Joint Institute for Power and Nuclear Research)

Documentary on the new VVER-1200 design (in Russian)

Reportage on the project of Belarusian nuclear power plant

More on this story :
– Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant Project, Sosny, Joint Institute for Power and Nuclear Research
– Belarus making important progress on path to nuclear power, IAEA, 2012
– Belarus starts constructing its first nuclear power plant, IAEA, 2013
– INPRO Assessment of the Planned Nuclear Energy System of Belarus, IAEA, 2013
– Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Belarus, 2014
– How they do it, IAEA, 2014
– Construction of Belarusian NPP on schedule, Belta News Agency, 2015
– Country Nuclear Power Profiles, IAEA, 2015
– Tight oversight over manufacturers of Belarusian nuclear power plant components, Belta News Agency, 2016

cover picture : Building of the government of Belarus in Minsk
source : By Cédric Lafont (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons