Leningrad NPP is a federal property. It is situated on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland 80km west of St.Petersburg.

The plant supplies electricity to the Federal Wholesale Electricity and Capacity Market. It is an independent operating organization and is fully responsible for own safety.

LNPP is managed by the Ministry of Atomic Energy and supervised by the State Atomic Inspection.

Leningrad NPP is one of the biggest energy producers in Europe and plays an important role in the economy of North-Western Russia.

Leningrad NPP operates four units with RBMK-1000 reactors. The total capacity of the plant is 4000 MW. The plant can produce 28mln KWh a year.

The 1st and 2nd units are from the first generation of RBMK, the 3 rd and 4th ones are from the second generation with improved performance and enhanced safety.

International Cooperation of Leningrad NPP

Leningrad NPP has partners all over the world. It close cooperates with nuclear power experts from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, UK, Germany, Canada. It regularly receives delegations from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, France, SAR, Tunisia, China, Korea, Taiwan, Belgium, Argentina, Italy. The consuls of Japan, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, representatives of the Consulate General of the United States; energy ministers of Denmark and Canada; French and US senators; European MPs, IAEA Director General and many other public and political figures have visited the plant so far.

In 1989 LNPP launched a large-scale modernization program with a view to enhance the capacity of its units and to extend their lives. In 1992 the plant started participating in international programs. It was exactly then in Munich that the G7 leaders proposed starting a multilateral program for enhancing the safety of NPPs in Central and Eastern Europe and the former USSR. The priority of the program was to enhance the safety of the first generation of Soviet reactors, including RBMKs.

The same year the governments of Finland and Russia signed an agreement on cooperation in Murmansk region, Republic of Karelia, St.Petersburg and Leningrad region. Priority was given to environment protection and nuclear safety enhancement. Later, the Trade and Industry Ministry of Finland and the Atomic Energy Ministry of Russia agreed to launch a joint program for enhancing the safety of Leningrad NPP. The program was financed by the Finnish Government and supervised by STUK (Finland Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority).

One of the first steps was a three-week OSART safety mission by STUK and Gosatomnadzor. The objective of the mission was to help to enhance its safety by sharing the best experience in the sphere. IAEA’s OSART methodology helped the Finnish experts to thoroughly inspect the plant, to establish business and friendly contacts with their Russian colleagues and to make correct decisions as to the priorities of future cooperation.

Such important political decisions required improved organization and in Jan 1992 LNPP set up a department of foreign economic relations, which began to coordinate the plant’s foreign economic activities. Initially, a group of 4 people, today, the department has over 20 employees.

In 1993 the G7 leaders opened a Nuclear Safety Account at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with a view to finance projects aimed at enhancing the safety of the NPPs of the first generation, including Leningrad NPP. The same year the governments of the US and Russia agreed to start an International Nuclear Safety Program, financed by the US Government and aimed at enhancing the safety of Soviet-design NPPs.

The same year Leningrad NPP was involved in TACIS technical support projects and is now starting to implement a general computerization project worth over 4mln EUR.

In 1994 the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Denmark and the Ministry of Atomic Energy of Russia signed an agreement for cooperation in the sphere of nuclear power engineering, which was later confirmed by an inter-governmental agreement on technical cooperation. Since then the Danish experts helped LNPP to modernize seawater cooling systems (old pumps were replaced by flood-resistant analogues); to install fire fighting systems; and meters for the Automated Radiation Control System.

In June 1995 EBRD agreed to subsidize the supplies of equipment and services for a short-term safety enhancement program (1995-2000) at the 1 st-4th units of LNPP and allocated 30,380,000 EUR for this purpose. 16 significant large-scale projects were carried out in the framework of the program with the contractors selected through international tenders.

The same year Leningrad NPP signed a framework agreement on cooperation with PNNL (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the US). The priorities of the agreement were:

to install safety assessment system;
to improve safety analysis;
to supply technologies and to train specialists for effective maintenance of RBMK reactors;
to install fire prevention systems;
to introduce emergency prevention guidelines;
to introduce method of non-destructive metal testing;
to improve instructor training.

In 1996 LNPP signed cooperation agreement with STUK, with priorities given to:

operating safety;
pressure system integrity;
fire security;
automated environment monitoring;
physical protection.

and four more priorities added in 2000:

dosimeters for personnel;
intermediate storage;
independent safety assessment;
safety analysis.

Simultaneously, in May 1998 Leningrad NPP started active cooperation with Swedish International Project (presently SKI-ICP). In line with the agreement for cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy, signed by the governments of Sweden and USSR on Jan 12 1970, SKI-ICP is authorized to finance safety enhancement projects.

The first projects under the agreement were non-destructive testing training courses for LNPP inspectors and supply of a system for monitoring the inner surface of fuel tubes and the graphite cladding of the reactor.

Since then the sides have carried out projects for:

improving safety analysis;
introducing equipment for automatic welding and mechanical cutting of pipelines;
introducing non-destructive metal testing system;
introducing TETRA trunked radio system;
replacing fire protective doors;
introducing equipment for measuring coolant’s electro-chemical potential;
improving public relations;
teaching local personnel English and involving them in international scientific-technical cooperation projects.

In 2002 LNPP started cooperation with SSI (Swedish Radiation Protection Authority): joint projects in internal dosimetry, radiation safety, radiation monitoring, ALARA technology. In June 2002 the sides agreed to jointly finance a project for the supplies of thermo-luminescent dosimeters. SSI paid 80%, LNPP – 20%.

Leningrad NPP was the first Russian NPP to start to co-finance its international projects. For many years already it has been successfully co-financing its projects with Finland and Sweden, with its shares ranging from 20% to 50%. Co-financing implies responsibility for the project and compliance with its terms.

One more example of co-financing (50/50) is the Russian-Finnish project for installing Aarspeff system for preventing corrosion inside the industrial water pipelines of the 1 st and 2nd units. This unique system has been recommended for use at all Rosenergoatom NPPs.

LNPP enjoys quite fruitful cooperation with Norway: introducing virtual reality simulators, training non-destructive testing, setting up crisis nuclear center.

As of today, LNPP has completed almost all large-scale TACIS projects:

general computerization;
fireproof panels;
electronic document management;
control board modernization.

The project for solidifying liquid waste is near completion.

By proclaiming safety our priority, we have been actively involved in relevant international projects in the last 15 years. We seek to constantly enhance the safety of our units by cultivating safety culture, applying modern technologies and equipment and training personnel. We are gradually enlarging the scope of our cooperation. Our cooperation agreements are becoming more and more specific. And even though the primary goal of the technical support projects was to carry out short-term measures for enhancing the safety of first-generation RBMKs, our further cooperation has contributed to longer-term extension of the lives of our units.

International cooperation is also personal contacts, ability to understand each other and to be unprejudiced and flexible. That’s exactly what we have sought to show and have shown in the last 15 years.

We very much hope that our international activities will be continued. As one of STUK directors Hannu Koponen said: "Fruitful cooperation is beneficial for all parties to it as safety enhancement is a general benefit."