MINSK, 11 March (BelTA) – Belarusian scientists are busy developing a state program to provide scientific support for the national nuclear power program in Belarus for 2011-2015, Piotr Vityaz, First Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB), told a conference in Minsk, BelTA has learnt.

According to him, the NASB has already received 107 assignments on the program. Now they are being studied by the academic council. Simultaneously the NASB is looking into the results of a similar program in 2009. The program included several projects in various areas, namely, the development of the legal framework governing the nuclear power development, systems and methods to assess the quality of the equipment, analyze and simulate the processes at all stages of the life cycle, to improve the radioactive waste treatment, NPP environmental impact assessment and others.

According to Piotr Vityaz, the work on the nuclear power plant construction project should be open to public. “Then will know why the decision to construct the NPP has been taken. The energy balance is impossible in Belarus without nuclear power,” said Piotr Vityaz.