Russia’s Leningrad NPP said on 3 August that it had established a daily shipment of liquid oxygen to companies capable of converting it into a state for medical use. The station is ready to supply up to 100 tons of liquid oxygen every month – enough to ensure continuous operation for one hour for 275,000 portable ventilators with a capacity of 2 litres. “The main products that we must develop to ensure the safe operation of power units are gaseous and liquid nitrogen. Oxygen for us is a by-product that has become vital during the pandemic,” explained Andrey Abramov, deputy head of the support systems department. “The oxygen produced by the Leningrad NPP fully complies with all the requirements of GOST [Russia’s certification organisation].”
The production of liquid oxygen is carried out at the nitrogen-oxygen station of the supply systems shop of the Leningrad NPP, equipped with the necessary equipment and staffed with competent personnel. Currently, two units are in operation at the Leningrad NPP.
According to doctors, on average, in a medical institution with 80 hospital beds in a COVID department, between 0.6 tons and 1 ton of liquid oxygen is consumed per month, which is converted into gaseous oxygen through a gasifier.
The Rostov NPP is also producing oxygen for medical needs, completing in June this year the procedures necessary to launch the production of medical oxygen and its delivery to regional medical institutions. The station is now ready to supply oxygen directly to medical facilities. Rostov will also produce medical oxygen at its nitrogen-oxygen station. The maximum capacity of the equipment is 40 cubic metres per hour. This volume is enough for the operation of one ventilator for about three days.
