Arkady Aronov, chief researcher of the Center for Geophysical Monitoring of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, spoke to BelTA about the seismic hazard assessment conducted in the area of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (BelNPP).

“Regulatory documentation for construction of nuclear power plants provides for quite an extensive cycle of works and studies to assess seismic hazards. The catastrophic earthquake in the eastern part of Honshu Island in Japan in 2011, which caused an accident at the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant, toughened the requirements for seismic hazard and risk assessment in the construction of nuclear power plants,” said Arkady Aronov.

According to him, the Center of Geophysical Monitoring of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus has been involved in virtually all seismological studies.

“We monitored seismic conditions, studied seismotectonic conditions, carried out work on detailed seismic zoning with the allocation of zones of possible earthquake origins. In addition we conducted special work on seismic micro-zoning, which is zoning of the facility placement according to the degree of seismic effects taking into account real ground conditions,” the scientist said.

Local seismological monitoring within the BelNPP area has been carried out continuously since 2008. “I would like to note that this monitoring will be carried out throughout all phases of the life cycle of BelNPP, including even the stage of its decommissioning. We continue working in this area. Our local seismological network consists of eight observation points, through which we control the seismic situation and monitor the level of parameters of the design bases,” the chief researcher of the Center for Geophysical Monitoring of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus said.