Leningrad NPP has received a licence to operate the RBMK reactor at unit 3 until 2030. The decision to issue a licence was made after representatives of regulator Rostekhnadzor conducted a comprehensive analysis and verification of the condition of equipment and documentation at the unit. Rostekhnadzor checked for compliance with modern safety and reliability requirements, including measures to modernise and replace elements that have exhausted their useful life, registered and completd technical inspection of the equipment.
This assessment of the technical condition of the unit concluded that it is fundamentally possible to operate it for up to 50 years. This was confirmed by the design and research organisations of JSC Atomenergoproject, th NA Dollezhal Scientific Research & Design Institute of Power Engineering (NIKIET – Nauchno Issledovatelskii i Konstruktorskii Institut EnergoTekhnik) and the Kurchatov Institute.
Unit 3, launched in 1979, has already had its operating life extended by 15 years. Earlier after the modernization, the life of the third power unit was already extended by 15 years and has to date generated more than 290TWh of electricity.
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.
Work has been underway to extend the life of existing power units of Russian nuclear power plants since 1998,” said Leningrad NPP Director Vladimir Pereguda. “Our units are no exception. An additional period of operation is not only about the generation of electricity. There are jobs, and the continuation of the development of unique isotope products, and the planned work to construct and commission two more new VVER-1200 units (7&8).”
RBMK-1000 channel reactors enable irradiation of materials directly during the process of generating electricity and heat, resulting in additional high-tech products in the form of general industrial and medical isotopes. These isotopes are widely used in industry, agriculture and medicine, as well as in solving a number of environmental problems.
A set of documents has also been submitted to Rostekhnadzor as part of a licence application for extended operation of the unit 4 RBMK to 2030.
In addition, work is underway to extend the life of the RBMK reactors at units 3&4 at the Kursk NPP and units1-3 of the Smolensk NPP as well as the VVER reactor at unit 1at the Kalinin NPP. Their further operation will save about 7 GW of generating capacities, which will help maintain energy potential for the industrial development of the regions.
Leningrad NPP also reported that a project to modernise control and control systems at the unit 5 VVER-1200 reactor had been completed. The work was carried out by specialists of JSC Rosatom Automated Control Systems (RASU), part of Rosatom. The project was the first of its kind.
The project involved the transition from the ring configuration of the EN busbar to a duplicate main data busbar. Comprehensive modernisation of both hardware and software was carried out, which significantly increased the reliability and fault tolerance of systems. The new EN busbar configuration, called EN-2, reduces the likelihood of system failures due to redundancy, which provides continuous data transfer and quick recovery. The tests confirmed the stability of new solutions to various operational scenarios, including communication and equipment malfunctions.
The work was successfully completed as part of the planned preventive repair of unit 5. The tests, including the final fault tolerance control, confirmed the reliability of the updated system. The transition to a duplicated main bus is an important step in the development of control systems for Russian nuclear power plants,” said Dmitry Dimashov, Chief Designer & Technical Director of RASU.
According to Dmitry Marygin, head of the thermal automation & measurements at Leningrad-II, RASU specialists conducted significant work on the development of design documentation and commissioning. Modernisation of the unit 5 power control system opens up new opportunities for introducing similar solutions at other Russian units
