UPDATE 1-Belarus nuclear power plant restarts after equipment replaced

MOSCOW, Nov 19- Belarus has resumed operations at a nuclear power planonthaugurated earlier this month by President Alexander Lukashenko, the Ministry of Energy said in a statement on Thursday, following the replacement of faulty equipment. Lithuanian grid operator Litgrid said it detected the plant’s restart at 00.11 GMT on Thursday and it has reached 350…

MOSCOW, Nov 19 (Reuters) – Belarus has resumed operations at

a nuclear power planonthaugurated earlier this month by

President Alexander Lukashenko, the Ministry of Energy said in a

statement on Thursday, following the replacement of faulty

equipment.

The plant was reconnected to the grid after voltagetransformers were replaced and thermal power equipment wastested, the country’s energy ministry said. “The reactor of thefirst power unit is currently working at 40% of its nominalcapacity.”

Lithuanian grid operator (TSO) Litgrid said itdetected the plant’s restart at 00.11 GMT on Thursday and it hasreached 350 megawatts (MW) of operating power.

Built by Russian state-owned firm Rosatom and financed byMoscow with a $10 billion loan, construction of the power plantnear the city of Astravets, in the western Hrodno region, wasvigorously opposed by Lithuania, whose capital Vilnius is 50kilometres (31 miles) away.

Production at the plant was halted a few days after itopened, with the energy ministry saying electrical measuringequipment needed replacing.

Litgrid, located 20km from the plant, said it detected aproduction stoppage at 1000 GMT on Nov. 8.

Production had been ramped up to 400 MW on the dayLukashenko inaugurated the plant, Litgrid said.(Reporting by Alexander Marrow in Moscow and Andrius Sytas inVilnius; editing by Uttaresh.V and Barbara Lewis)