According to documents of the Investigative Committee published by the NEXTA channel in Telegram, defects in the Belarusian NPP construction are due to corruption.
Department of the Investigation Committee (IC) of the Hrodna region is investigating a criminal case launched under Article 252 of the Criminal Code (commercial bribery) against the head of the ventilation and firefighting systems of the Russian company Atomstroyexport, Oleg Zinoviev. On April 6th , he was detained by the KGB representatives during the bribe taking from the Russian company “NGO Ventechservice” and the Belarusian “Levant Group”.
The agency notes that Zinoviev’s poor quality work has led to the situation where the ventilation equipment, as well as the aggregates and valves to suppress fire at the station, were installed without passing the necessary control checks.
According to the IC, violations may lead to ‘whole system failure’.
BelNPP correspondent was not able to get a comment on the detention of Zinoviev advising to contact Atomstroyexport.
The Russian company also refused to comment on the phone claiming that the head of the information department is now on a business trip.
This is not the first incident at the NPP construction site. For example, in 2017, while moving the reactor vessel for the first unit of BelNPP, workers let it slip out and touch the ground.
In July 2019, during construction work at the Astravets NPP, the 59-year-old and 23-year-old workers fell from a height as a result of a breakdown in the work of the truck tower, sustaining serious injuries.
The latest scandal surrounding the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant was connected with the Russian builders not receiving salaries for their work.
It is planned to launch the first BelNPP reactor in the coming months.
