Titan-2, General Contractor for the construction of the new stage of Russia’s Leningrad NPP has completed excavation work at the site of unit 8 two weeks ahead of schedule.
Currently Leningrad NPP has four units in operation – units 3&4 with Soviet RBMK-1000 reactors, as well units 5&6 with new VVER-1200 units (also known as Leningrad-II 1&2). Units 5&6 replaced units 1&2 with RBMK-1000 reactors, which were decommissioned in 2018 and 2020. New VVER-1200 units (7&8) will replace units 3&4. They are scheduled to be put into commercial operation in 2030 and 2032.
“Clear production planning, sufficient special equipment on the site and the high motivation and discipline of builders and engineers played a large role, said Konstantin Khudyakov, Director of the programme for facilities at Leningrad for Titan-2. “The dry weather, which continued for many weeks, helped. Working without downtime, round-the-clock, we reached the project mark of excavation -15.85 metres.”
Currently work is focusing on the installation of a reservoir drainage site for the future reactor building. The next stages will include sub-concreting, lightning protection and waterproofing of the site. In October workers will begin to reinforce the foundation and prepare first concrete.
“The work road map provides for the pouring of the first cubic metre of concrete into the foundation of the unit 8 reactor building in 2025,” said Evgeniy Milushkin, Deputy Director for Capital Construction and Head of the Capital Construction Department of Leningrad-II. “The possibility of early execution of these works is being developed. A good start at the stage of preparing the foundation will reduce the construction time of the reactor building as a whole. Almost simultaneously, other objects of the nuclear island will be built – the control building, the security building, the nuclear service building, the steam chamber and others, as well as the buildings of the turbine island and the building of the general public purpose.”
