At Leningrad NPPХs power unit No 1 under construction with VVER-1200 reactor specialists has proceeded to the most important stage Р the reactor unit cold and hot trials (CHT). It signifies the start of the full-scale commissioning works at power unit No 1 under construction, and is carried out in order to confirm its reliable and safe operation.

Commenting on this event, the Leningrad NPP Manager Vladimir Pereguda has noted, ТWe have come to the stage of commissioning the power unit*. In accordance with Russian and international rules and regulations on NPP safety it is necessary to confirm that equipment and technological systems are assembled with a high quality, and power unit will operate in full concordance with the project. For this, within the cold and hot trials we will carry out more than one hundred pre-commissioning trials of the equipment and the reactor unit systems.У

ТCHT stage will last for 72 days. Trials have started with the cold phase: the specialists carry out hydraulic trials to confirm the component density and strength of the reactor unit, perform the circulation flushing of the primary and secondary circuits, regulate their water-chemistry conditions, examine for compliance of the thermohydraulic, structural, vibration and dynamic specifications of the reactor unit and the primary circuit equipment with the design valuesУ, the Chief Engineer of Leningrad NPP Oleg Ivanov told about the essence of the cold trial. He also added that one could call this phase cold only figuratively, because the temperature of demineralized water flushed through the pipelines during the trials would be about 120Ў?.

The hot trial will confirm the operational capability of the main and auxiliary equipment, and reactor unit systems already in project, (operation) conditions. At this substage the specialists will execute the trials for the four main circulatory pumping units at hot parameters (with temperature at least +260Ў?) for 100 hours, blow steam through main steampipes, carry out overall tests of safety systems, check the auxiliary power supply system, the control and the reactor unit safety systems.

Vitaliy Shutikov, the Reactor Shop Chief of Leningrad NPP under construction, ТWe are going to carry out all the procedures under different conditions Р by launching standby stations, raising the primary circuit actual pressure, cooling the primary circuit with non-working main circulatory pumping units, etc. The set of trials is the maximum. We must make sure that the power unit operation will be reliable and safe.У

ТCommissioning works are the final stage of NPP construction that provides the basis of its future operation. We need to transfer the constructed power unit No 1 to the condition, in which it can operate safely, reliably and efficiently in generating and supplying electric and thermal energy. I am sure that all the tests within cold and hot trials will proceed successfully. Commissioning works will be executed with high quality, in due capacity and in timeУ, Konstantin Zelevskiy, the First Deputy of Technical Director of commissioning works of Kalininatomtekhenergo summed up.

*Power unit commissioning consists of several stages. The commissioning works are followed by the physical and power start-up, and then goes the industrial operation. Power unitХs life counting starts from the fuel delivery to central hall and the first fuel assembly into the reactor.

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.