17.04.2019
INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF LENINGRAD NPP
The Leningrad NPP-2: cooling pumps that facilitate safety under any operational mode have been assembled at the 2nd VVER-1200 power block
The cooling equipment system assembly is on its full way at the Leningrad NPP-2 2nd VVER-1200 power block under construction. The team has installed eight pumps with a capacity of 450 kilowatt each and connected these pumps with the pipelines that will be used to transport process water.
Shortly, the specialists will also install the isolation valves and complete the electrical installation works. Those will be followed by post-assembly cleaning and hydraulic pressure tests to verify the equipment’s solidity and endurance before the commissioning and start-up begin.
According to Andrey Rozhkov, the Deputy Head of the Supporting Systems Workshop at the Leningrad NPP, the pumps are a crucial piece of equipment: ‘When operating a power block, if there is a hypothetical emergency, these pumps will facilitate the supply of cooling water to remove heat from the equipment, which guarantees that it can work safely and in a reliable way, and that will enable us to switch the reactor into a safe mode. The pumps draw between 6800 and 13600 cubic meters of process water per hour, depending on its temperature and the power block’s mode’.
Once the 2nd VVER-1200 power block is launched operational, the cooling system will run 24/7. If the electricity supply is off, the cooling system will be powered by standby diesel generators. The buildings hosting the cooling system elements are constructed in such a way that it will remain operational despite any external impact, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, air blasts. That said, the cooling water supply to cater for the power block is guaranteed under any circumstances.
The Leningrad NPP is the country’s first plant with RBMK-1000 reactors (uranium-graphite circuit-type reactor running on thermal neutrons). The decision that marked its construction was taken in September 1966 by a resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR and the Council of Ministers No. 800-252. According to that document, the Leningrad NPP was supposed to become a core in a network of nuclear power plants with RBMK-1000 reactors that were supposed to produce a substantial share of electric power. The construction of the Leningrad NPP was going well, and by 1973 the first power block was fully erected. On December 23, 1973, following stable 72-hours’ operation at the capacity of 150 megawatt, the State Commission signed the acceptance certificate stating that the first power block of the Leningrad nuclear power plant is commissioned for pilot production.
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