On March 18, 2011 in the Information centre of the Rostov NPP  there was held a “round table” devoted to the issues of safety and economic efficiency of the NPP in the conditions of increasing the of power capacity up to 104 %.

The meeting was held within the frameworks of preparation for public hearings on the Environmental impact analysis (EIA) in the conditions of increasing the of power capacity of unit ? 1 of the Rostov NPP   up to 104 %, which will take place in Volgodonsk on March 31. 

Taking part in the meeting were the representatives of the city administration, members of the Coordination Council of the Public Chamber of the city of Volgodonsk, representatives of public organizations, experts of Rosenergoatom Concern OJSC and the Rostov NPP.

Answering the first question, Director of the Rostov NPP Alexander Palamarchuk noted: “The South of Russia is dynamically developing and has ever growing needs for electric power and, as a result, requires increased generating powers. NPP is a state enterprise, and by raising the NPP capacity we solve the problem assigned by the state”.

The increase in power capacity by 4 % will not weaken the safety level of the nuclear plant, assured Deputy Director for the planning and design branch of the Rosenergoatom Concern OJSC, Valery Novak. He noticed that as far as the Russian power units are concerned, such technological process is provided by project itself. He also added that stage-by-stage increase of power capacity at the nuclear plants of Europe and America had begun much earlier, than in Russia. 

Generalizing the results of the tests, the experts in the field of radiating control and ecology have provided the data of the air, water and soil monitoring. So, according to the independent experts, at the capacity increase of the reactor plant of power unit ? 1 of the Rostov NPP up to 104 % of the nominal radiation-absorbed dose will remain at the level several times lower than the admissible one. For the air this indicator is 2900 times lower than the minimum significant dose is, for the cooling water - 7 times lower.

The results of researches testify to the fact that operation of power unit ? 1 at the capacity of the reactor plant of 104 % of the nominal one will not change the ecological conditions of the Region of the Rostov NPP which is characterized at present as ecologically safe.

Speaking about economic preferences for the city and the region as a result of the power increase of unit ? 1, Chairman of the Duma of Volgodonsk Peter Gorchanyuk noticed that it will increase the volume of taxes the budgets of all levels collect. Today the share of taxes of the NPP in structure of the city budget, according to Peter Gorchanyuk, amounts to 19 %. “All of us are interested in developing the city and the region at the expense of increased performance of the Rostov NPP”, he underlined. 

The same day there was held an organizing committee session on public hearings on EIA while increasing the capacity of power unit ? 1 of the Rostov NPP up to 104 %. The hearings will take place on March 31 in the Big Hall of the Palace named under Kurchatov. The persons interested in participating in the hearings will receive information booklets in the “question-answer” format. There will also be a possibility to ask questions to the experts of Atomenergoproject”, Rostov NPP and radiation monitoring, to the representatives of Administration directly during the hearings. There will be no time limit for holding this event. 

Increase of power level of the units of the Russian NPPs is carried out according to the “Program of increasing electric power generation at the operating power units of the NPPs of the Rosenergoatom Concern for 2007-2015”. Balakovo NPP was the first plant in Russia to implement Program. In the course of the Program realization 21 power units of the Russian NPPs will face the increase of power capacity by several percent. It is done within the framework of the universal tendency of increasing electric power generation at the operating power units. There is similar experience in the world now, including the foreign power units built under the Soviet. For example the Finnish NPP “Loviza” has increased the capacity of power units VVER-440 of the Soviet make by 15 %.