Russia has provided a credit of $10bn to Belarus for the construction of a nuclear power plant.

According to the Russia’s legal information portal, “The Russian side will provide the Belorussian side a state export credit of up to $10bn to finance the cost of every contract … on supply of goods, works done and services delivered … by a Russian organisation responsible for the construction of two energetic blocks [nuclear reactors] in Belarus.”

In July 2012, Atomstroyexport, a unit of Rosatom, inked a deal with Belarus for the construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant in Ostrovets, close to the Lithuanian border, reports RIA Novosti.

This facility will comprise two nuclear reactors, with the first reactor scheduled to be ready by 2017 and the second by 2018.

Each of the two reactors will have a capacity of 1,200MW, which will help boost the Belarusian energy capacity to 8,000MW, reports the publication.

In May 2012, the two countries signed a contract for the construction of the plant.

Moscow had then agreed to invest $204m at the early phase of the construction.

Although Belarus had begun preparing for the construction of the plant in the 1980s, the plan had to be stalled due to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 in Ukraine.

Concerns over the project once again cropped up following the disaster at Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan in 2011.

Russia will provide advanced technology to help Belarus to have accident-free operations at the nuclear power plant.