OREANDA-NEWS. July 08, 2011. Representatives of Rosatom State Corporation took part in the official consultations, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Estonia concerning Baltic NPP project.

Representatives of Rosatom State Corporation, Rosenergoatom Concern OJSC, St. Petersburg Atomenergoproekt OJSC and Inter RAO UES OJSC were included into the group of experts on the Russian part. Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Economic Development and also of Estonian Energy Power Company took part in the official consultations on the Estonian part.

The representatives of Rosatom State Corporation appeared with the reports concerning the procedure of site choice and engineering peculiarities of Baltic NPP. “The work on selecting of Baltic NPP site and its substantiation had been carried out in the course of ten years in accordance with established Russian standards and IAEA recommendations. Each stage of the selection was accompanied by collection and analysis of an entire complex of factual data. As a result of that laborious work a site which complied with all not only Russian but also international recommendations was chosen”, Director of the Rosatom State Corporation Program of the Directorate on Capital Construction Sergey Boyarkin noted.

Deputy General Director of SPbAEP OJSC Alexander Kazarin drew the Estonian experts’ attention to the peculiarities of the projects which provided safety of the plant operation. “The project of Baltic NPP is based on experience of VVER reactors at the Russian and foreign plants and is an evolutional one in many aspects. The structure of safety systems repeats the four-channel structure, realized in the existing projects and those under construction. At that the project provides special technical devices aimed at off-project accidents management: melt trap, carbon removal system, system of the first circuit protection from overpressure, passive system of heat removal by means of steam generators and passive systems of heat removal from the containment shell”, Alexander Kazarin made it more precise.

Estonian experts’ questions concerned all project solutions of Baltic NPP with a special emphasis on compliance with the ‘post- Fukushima’ safety standards. Also, the Estonian party offered to discuss the perspectives of electric power supply from Baltic NPP to potential consumers in detail.

 “After the events at Fukushima NPP all the existing Russian plants and also the projects of the plants under construction were thoroughly studied for the compliance with those safety standards, which became obligatory after the accident in Japan. The results of the research show that at our existing plants, and the more so at the plants being constructed and are referred to “3+” generation of the Fukushima scenery is impossible to repeat. Not least because in Russia a nuclear plant just could not be constructed at the site similar to or just close in characteristics to that of Fukushima NPP”, Sergey Boyarkin noted.

The Estonian party confirmed that the representatives of Rosatom State Corporation had answered all the questions the Estonian experts had. “In spite of the fact that the Russian Federation did not ratify ECPO Convention, our consultations were held in a trustful and efficient atmosphere. I hope that if there is a necessity of the meetings of the kind in the future, the Russian party will demonstrate the same openness”, Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia on Energy and Climate Margus Rava noted in his concluding speech.

Introducing the information of Baltic NPP project to the near-border countries, Rosatom State Corporation follows the provisions and recommendations of ESPO (the Convention of Environmental Impact Estimation in a trans-board context). “Rosatom State Corporation has always expressed readiness to provide the necessary information concerning Baltic NPP project on the first requirement, and in the future we will be ready to give additional explanations”, Head of Rosatom State Corporation Department on Work with Districts Igor Konyshev noted.