10.10.2018  INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF LENINGRAD NPP

Leningrad NPP-2: the inspection proved the readiness of the innovative power unit No 1 with VVER-1200 reactor for the commissioning

At the innovative power unit No 1 with VVER-1200 reactor unit of Leningrad NPP the inspection – one of the most important stages before its commissioning – was completed. The inspection proved that after the 15-day complex trial of the power unit at 100% capacity in August, 2018 the main and auxiliary equipment is functioning and can be operated safely and reliably.

“In order to carry out the inspection the nuclear reaction at the power unit No1 with VVER-1200 was stopped and the power unit was put in the cold condition. In the nearest time the specialists will put the power unit at the minimum controlled power level, and then at the nominal parameters”, the Chief Engineer of LNPP-2 Aleksandr Belyaev told.

“When we receive all the permitting documents, including the decision of Rostekhnadzor on the correspondence of power unit with the requirements of regulations and the design, we will be able to put power unit No1 with VVER-1200 into industrial operation. The power unit will provide the North-West region with electric energy reliably and without fail and will further region’s development and prosperity”, Leningrad NPP Manager Vladimir Pereguda stressed.

The innovative, today’s most powerful power units with water-water power reactors VVER-1200 that are being constructed at LNPP-2 belong to Generation 3+. The most advanced achievements and developments that meet all post-Fukushima requirements were used for these reactors. Such power units are unique and have no analogs. The first power unit of this type was commissioned in the end 2016 at NVNPP-2 (Novovoronezh). In comparison with traditional power units of the same type, the VVER-1200 design has a number of advantages that increase its economic characteristics and safety. The main feature of the VVER-1200 project is a unique combination of active and passive safety systems that make the plant as stable as possible to external and internal influences. In particular, VVER-1200 reactor units use a melt trap: a device serving to localize the melt of the core of the nuclear reactor, a system of passive heat removal through steam generators (SHRS), designed to ensure a long-term thermal discharge in the absence of any electricity source, etc.

When the power unit No 1 with VVER-1200 of Leningrad NPP was put into industrial operation it has already generated more than 2 billion kilowatt-hours of electric energy. It is roughly estimated that after its commissioning, the economic effect in the form of the additional taxes in the consolidated budget of Leningrad Oblast will amount to more than 3 billion rubles annually. New capacities will provide the high level of the energy security of the country, allow to continue the implementation of a number of large regional investment projects, that require significant electric energy consumption, as well as will further the growth, development and strengthening of the financial independence of Sosnovy Bor.

Leningrad NPP is a branch of Rosenergoatom. The Plant is located at the town of Sosnovy Bor, 40 km west of St. Petersburg on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. LNPP is the first plant in the country with RBMK-1000 reactors (thermal-neutron heat-pipe cooled uranium-graphite nuclear reactors). The NPP operates four power units with an electric capacity of 1,000 MW each. The first unit of replacement capacities with VVER-1200 reactor is at the physical start-up stage, the second VVER-1200 type unit is under construction. Rosenergoatom  JSC is the customer-developer of the project, ATOMPROEKT JSC is the general designer, and CONTSERN TITAN-2 JSC is the general contractor.


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