Kursk Nuclear Power Plant is a branch of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Russian State Concern for Production of Electric and Thermal Energy at Nuclear Power Plants” (“Rosenergoatom” Concern) of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Energy.

Kursk NPP is situated 40 km west of Kursk, on the bank of Seim River with the satellite-city Kurchatov located 3 km from the plant.

The decision on the construction of Kursk NPP was made in the mid 1960s. The project was started in 1971. The plant was supposed the cover the growing energy demands of the quickly developing industrial complex of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (Stary-Oskol and Mikhaylovsk ore mining and processing factories and other manufacturing companies). The general designer of Kursk NPP was Atomenergoproject (Moscow); the general contractor - the Research and Development Institute of Power Engineering (Moscow); the research manager – Kurchatov Institute. The construction was executed by the Department for the Construction of Kursk NPP (presently Kurskatomenergostroy Ltd.).

Kursk NPP is a one-circuit plant: the steam supplied to the turbines is produced inside the reactor by the boiling coolant (ordinary clean water circulating inside a circuit). For condensing the steam the plant uses water from a 21.5 sq m cooling pond.

Kursk NPP has four RBMK-1000 reactors (1000 MW each) and is building new ones. The 1st unit was launched in 1976, the 2nd in 1979, the 3rd in 1983 and the 4th in 1985. Kursk NPP is one of the three biggest NPPs and one of the four biggest electricity producers in Russia (along with Balakovo and Leningrad NPPs and Sayano-Shushink WPP).

Kursk NPP is an important part of the United Energy System of Russia. Its key consumer is the Center energy system covering 19 regions of the Central Federal District. Kursk NPP produces 52% of the total output of all electric power plants of Chernozemye (Black Earth Belt). It feeds 90% of the industry of Kursk region. It also supplies electricity to northern and north-eastern Ukraine.

As of Jan 1 2006 the plant had generated 560bln KWh. Today Kursk NPP is the key energy supplier of Central Chernozemye, a region that produces 48% of iron ore, 13.5% of steel, 19% of ferrous metals, 9.6% of meat, 19.5% of sugar in Russia. Without Kursk NPP the region would hardly develop.