On November 6 2020, Rostekhnadzor (Russian Federal Service for Ecological, Technical and Atomic Supervision) has issued a permit to start the next stage of launch operations, the pilot production stage, for VVER-1200 power unit No. 6. The experts will start an incremental raise of the reactor capacity shortly.

Pilot operation is the final and longest check of the power unit before commissioning. It will last about 4 months. During this time, the experts will consistently increase the power capacity of the reactor to 40, 50, 75, 90 and 100% and perform almost two hundred tests of technological and safety systems of the unit. They’ll investigate the neutronic characteristics of the core once again as well as study the "behavior" of the reactor in various scenarios. They will also check the in-reactor control systems, test the mode of complete de-energization of the unit, check the effectiveness of biological protection, and perform many other tests.

“After reaching 100% capacity and completing all the prescribed tests at a given power level, after flawless non-stop operation for at least 15 days, the power unit will be shut down to revise the equipment and put it into "industrial" operation, after a check by the state commission,” - Chief Engineer at Leningrad NPP Aleksandr Belyaev said.

Let’s recall that start-up operations at power unit No. 6 of VVER-1200 generation "3+" of the Leningrad NPP began on July 19, 2020, when the first fuel assemblies with fresh nuclear fuel were loaded into the reactor core. After full loading, the reactor of power unit No. 6 was brought to the minimum controllable power level, giving rise to a series of tests. At the end of the tests on October 22, 2020, power unit No. 6 was connected to the country's power grid. The daily output of the unit after the start of industrial operation will make up about 28 million kWh of electricity.

The complete commissioning of VVER-1200 power unit No. 6 and the start of its commercial operation is scheduled for 2021.