Rosatom offers to set up gigafactory, nuclear medicine center in Belarus

Russia has already built a gigafactory of its own. The facility specializes in the production of storage devices and key electronic components for electric vehicles. Given the active development of the electric transport sector, there is a possibility to implement such a project in Belarus as well. Aleksandr Lukashenko said that he had recently discussed joint development of infrastructure for electric transport with Russian President Vladimir Putin. All the more that the technology in the area is advancing. “[Belarusian Energy Minister Viktor] Parkhomchik, together with your power engineers, has already learned to recharged an electric bus on the move. It is enough for the bus to drive a kilometer and a half with lifted poles to recharge the battery. It is a great progress in general – we need to move forward,” the head of state said.

Russia has been actively developing electric transport in its capital, Moscow. “We have localized the production, the technology. We are adapting it as much as possible to the Russian technological landscape. We have already started supplying you. Traction batteries for BelAZ, Belkommunmash, and MAZ,” Alexey Likhachev said.

Since Belarus is a machine-building country, he proposed a solution for the so-called cart - the entire platform which includes the charger, the engine and the control system. “We see it as particularly important to concentrate this production in one place,” the Rosatom head explained. “It would be the right decision to follow the path of localization and setting up a gigafactory here [in Belarus].” According to him, a gigafactory in Belarus is “not a dream, but a feasible task”.

Another area where Rosatom is ready to share experience and technologies is the development of a nuclear medicine center in the country. According to Alexey Likhachev, the creation of such a center can become one of the Union State projects.

There are prospects for cooperation in other areas as well, including industry, digital and additive technologies.

The Russian state corporation is already cooperating with Belarusian scientific and healthcare institutions in a number of areas. For example, linear accelerators for remote therapy are supplied. Alexey Likhachev suggested including Belarusian healthcare institutions in the supply system of the most advanced radiopharmaceuticals.

“We offer (and the first steps have already been made) to open a center of additive technologies in Belarus. This is tomorrow's machine building, and we need to train personnel, implement technologies. There is still a lot of work to do,” Alexey Likhachev said.

He separately touched upon the development of digital technologies in Belarus and confessed that five years ago he was surprised to learn that the competencies of a number of Belarusian enterprises exceeded the level of Rosatom. The state corporation has organized joint projects with some of them. “They are in demand, and will replace import supplies. They also suggest practical solutions, such as digital simulators for the power industry, production facility modeling,” the Rosatom head said. He also mentioned a private Belarusian company which has a digital code for production life cycle management, and there are only 6-7 such codes in the world.

Some of the proposals for joint activities included industrial waste management, development of alliances in the wind energy sector.

Alexey Likhachev added that plans were in place to draft an intergovernmental memorandum and programs with Belarus.