The commission of the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service (Rostekhnadzor) has begun testing Rostov NPP power unit No 4 (Volgodonsk, a branch of Rosenergoatom Concern, a part of Rosatom Electric Power Division), which will be followed by the decisive stage of launch operations –the power start-up. The general designer and contractor for the Rostov NPP power units is ASE Group of Companies, the engineering division of Rosatom.

At present, the supervisory authority specialists check the reporting documents on the tests carried out at the stage of the power unit No 4 physical start-up and on the removal of prior flaws.

“After the completion of the power unit No 4 physical start-up, it will be necessary to obtain permission from Rostekhnadzor to start the power start-up. Therefore, within the framework of the Rostekhnadzor inspection, the commission of Energonadzor (a subdivision of Rostekhnadzor) starts its work at the Plant. It will check the removal of the flaws. Based on the results of this inspection, the permission to connect the Power Plant and the country’s unified power system will be granted”, the Chief Engineer of Rostov NPP, Andrey Gorbunov, said.

It is to be reminded that the physical start-up operations at Rostov NPP unit No 4 started on 6 December, 2017, with the nuclear fuel loading into the reactor. Within 5 days, all 163 fuel assemblies were installed in the proper places, and on 29 December, the power unit No 4 was put on the MCP. In the near future it is planned to implement the power start-up of Rostov NPP power unit No 4.

Today, Rostov NPP is one of the largest enterprises in the energy sector in the Rostov Oblast and the South of the country. The launch of the power unit No 4 with the VVER-1000 reactor will make it possible to sustainably supply energy to the entire southern region of Russia. In this case, the Rostov Oblast itself will enter the top ten Russian regions leading in energy generation. At the moment the Plant provides about half of the electricity in the region.