On September 7, 2016, the first seminar of the joint atomic power energy management school organized by the Rosatom Corporation and the International Atomic Energy Agency took place at the Leningrad NPP.

The school students represent the 19 novice atomic power countries intending to develop the industry in their nations or already doing it: Brazil, Belarus, Turkey, Bangladesh, Algeria, Bolivia, Ghana, Egypt, Zambia, Indonesia, Jordan, Cambodia, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Ethiopia.

The experts from Rosatom, the IAEA, and the Vienna International Nuclear Competence Centre (VINCC) told their colleagues-to-be about their experience managing nuclear power programs starting with safety measures.

The visit to the Leningrad NPP was organized to demonstrate the practical experience of operating a running nuclear power plant and elaborate on the new 3+ generation power blocks that Russia successfully sells overseas.


Our country has a huge track record in atomic power, and we want to share our knowledge. We want to position ourselves as a responsible service provider, including but not limited to staff training. Human capital development is a focal point in any novice country nuclear power program”, said Ilya Filippiev, a specialist of the ROSATOM-CICE&T, which initiated the first school in Russia.

“Shortly, some of our students will become decision-makers. That is why they should grasp that a nuclear power plant is not a food processing factory. It has different rules and different culture. Countries such as Russia, the USA, France, and others who have 50+ years of experience in the nuclear power industry are to pass their understanding of safety as a top priority to the newcomers”, said Janko Janev, the VINCC executive director.

As a part of the training, the guests have had a chance to visit the full-scale simulators of the Leningrad NPP’s power blocks, both running and those under construction. Still, the highlight was a visit to the reactor hall where the most critical part of the equipment trial and verification has started. Later on, no one will see the reactor installation in the same configuration during the whole period of the power block’s operation.

“One of the areas we work in is managing our nuclear power knowledge, which makes it important for our participants to be able to study the top-notch technologies presented by Rosatom”, said Wei Huang, the IAEA planning and information and knowledge management director. – “I’ve visited similar power blocks in China, which are slightly different from those in Russia, so we definitely wanted to know how the Leningrad NPP caters for safety standards that became obligatory for every power blocks under construction after the Fukushima emergency. The Leningrad NPP was the place where we learned that the new-generation VVER-1200 power blocks have additional security systems, including the passive ones”.

The Leningrad NPP is an affiliate company for Rosenergoatom Concern OJSC. The plant is based in the city of Sosnovy Bor, 40 km to the west from Saint Petersburg at the Gulf of Finland shore. The Leningrad NPP is the first Russian nuclear power plant having RBMK-1000 reactors (uranium-graphite channel-type thermal neutron reactors). The NPP exploits 4 power blocks with the electric capacity of 1000 megawatt each. Also, pursuant to the NPP-2006 project, 1,2 VVER-1200 power blocks included into The State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM long-term plan are being constructed. Rosenergoatom Concern OJSC is the owner and developer of the project. Holding TITAN-2 is the primary contractor. ATOMPROEKT is the general designer.

Leningrad  NPP Information and Public Relations Administration.