OREANDA-NEWS. May 27, 2015. The Volgodonsk branch of AEM-technologies, part of Atomenergomash, has completed welding the two halves of the reactor pressure vessel for the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant under construction in Ostrovets. Commissioning of the unit is scheduled for November 2018, while a second unit is to come online in July 2020.

Construction of the first unit started in November 2013 with first structural concrete, though the full construction licence was not issued until April 2014. A construction licence for the base mat of unit 2 was issued in February 2014. Construction of unit 2 started in May 2014, several months ahead of schedule.