The 4th power block of the Kalinin NPP has been commissioned for commercial operation with the allowed capacity at 104% of the designated one. The applicable license on the changes to the 4th power block operational license related to the increase up to 104% of the capacity was issued on June 20, 2019 by the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor).

During the same-day site meeting with the operating staff, Alexander Dorofeev, the chief engineer of the nuclear power plant, noted: ‘The operation of the Kalinin NPP’s 4th power block at 104% of its capacity is in line with the industrial ‘Program for increasing the electric power output at the running NPP power blocks of the Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company. Its goal is to improve the technical parameters of the equipment, which has direct impact on the advancement of the power block’s safety and operational stability. In order to follow this program, we carried out a number of activities on justifying the idea that the reactor facility is going to operate in a safe and environmentally-friendly fashion at the increased capacity when we were at the pilot production stage yet’.

He also stressed that the advanced capacity of the Russian NPP’s power blocks is the investment project for the industry that encompasses all local nuclear power plants and has no significant impact on the environment.

A number of major plans for the operating staff were announced during the meeting, in particular – facilitating safe and stable work of the Kalinin NPP, following the operations schedule and catering for 30,090 million kilowatt-hours of the electric power output. All in all, the Kalinin NPP power blocks have accounted for 13,778 million kilowatt-hours of electric power this year. The quota has been attained at 101.6%.

Additionally, a full-scale modernization of the first power block is coming up this year at the Kalinin NPP. As a part of it, scheduled overhaul will take place with the upgrade of the electric equipment, the replacement of the turbine generation stator and the power block’s integrated cable system, the installation of the automated radiation monitoring system, and the overhaul of the reactor facility and the turbine generating unit.

It is important to mention that the capacity increase of an NPP power block is a commonly accepted practice used in a number of countries all over the world.