22.02.2018  INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF LENINGRAD NPP

Leningrad NPP-2: the most important stage of launch operations has begun at the 3+ generation innovative power unit No 1

On 22 February, 2018, at 03:15 (MSK) Leningrad NPP-2 (a branch of Rosenergoatom Concern, a part of Rosatom’s Electric Power Division) has started the power start-up stage of the 3+ generation innovative power unit No 1 with the VVER-1200 reactor. The permission for the start-up was issued by the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of the Russian Federation (Rostekhnadzor).

Now a gradual power ascension goes on at the power unit No 1 of LNPP-2. It is being prepared for the energy generation, i.e. the power start-up, which is planned for the 1st half of this March.

It should be recalled that the power start-up stage includes a set of measures to gradually raise the reactor’s power from 1% (achieved at physical start-up) to a power level, at which the electricity generation (35% of normal capacity) starts, and further to the power level that provides readiness for industrial operation (50% of normal capacity). When the reactor reaches about 35% of normal capacity, it becomes possible to connect the unit’s turbine generator to the grid (since only this capacity allows the unit’s steam generators to produce enough steam to start the turbine and ensure its normal operation). This is followed by a long stage of gradual power ascension to nominal capacity within the phase of the new power unit’s pilot operation.

“During the power start-up, a comprehensive testing of the power unit will be carried out with a gradual increase of the project capacity, up to the level established for power plant experimental operation”, Aleksandr Belyaev, the Chief Engineer of Leningrad NPP, noted. “It is necessary to once again confirm the reliability and safety of the equipment and technological systems. Only after this is done, the power unit will be synchronized with the country’s Unified Energy System, and will start sending its first kilowatt-hours.”

In his turn, the Plant Manager of LNPP Vladimir Pereguda said, “Obtaining the Rostekhnadzor’s permission means that all the work required for the previous stage of the physical launch has been carried out in full, and the actual values of the core’s neutron-physical characteristics correspond to the calculated ones. Correction of project and operational documents of the power unit is not required. We can proceed to the next stage of the power unit launch – the power start-up.”

Currently, specialists are preparing for a gradual increase in reactor capacity to 30%. These are exactly the values that are necessary for the beginning of steam production and a trial "push" of the turbine.

It bears reminding that the start-up operations at the power unit No 1 of Leningrad NPP-2 started on 8 December, 2017, when the first assemblies with fresh nuclear fuel were loaded into the core (the stage of physical start-up). On 6 February, 2018, the reactor of the 1st unit was put to a minimum controllable power, launching a series of tests. On 15 February, 2018, the program for the physical start-up of the VVER-1200 power unit No 1 was fully completed.

The most powerful innovative power units today are the units with VVER-1200 water-water reactors built at Leningrad NPP-2, that belong to the newest 3+ generation. They use the most advanced achievements that meet all post-Fukushima requirements. The main feature of the VVER-1200 project is a unique combination of active and passive safety systems that make the Plant as resistant as possible to external and internal influences. In particular, the VVER-1200 reactor unit uses a melt trap – a device serving to localize the core melt in the reactor, a system of passive heat removal through steam generators, designed to remove heat from the reactor’s core to the atmosphere for long periods of time in the absence of any source of electricity, etc. 

Leningrad NPP is a branch of Rosenergoatom Concern JSC. 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 Concern 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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