Concreting of the base plate for Russia’s Kursk II-1 was completed on 30 June, according to a statement from Kursk nuclear power plant. Kursk II will replace the current Kursk NPP, where four RBMK units are approaching the end of their operating lives.
The aim is to synchronise the new type of VVER-TOI reactor, planned for Kursk II with decommissioning of Kursk 1&2 at the existing plant. Kursk II-1 is provisionally scheduled to enter service in 2020, unit 2 in 2023, unit 3 in 2024 and unit 4 in 2026. Kursk II comprises pilot generation 3+ VVER-TOI units (water-powered reactors with standard optimised information) with an electric capacity of 1255MWe and a design life of 60 years. The VVER-TOI was developed by Russia’s ASE Group of Companies, the engineering division of Rosatom.
According to Rosatom, investment in Kursk II will exceed $6bn, while a recent report from the UK-based Energy Technology Institute suggested Russia could build a new plant for $2500-$3800 per kilowatt, or $3-4.6bn for the “first-of-a-kind” VVER-TOI. By 2020, the project will require up to 5,418 highly skilled workers and engineers said Kursk NPP director Vyacheslav Fedyukin.
Photo: First concrete for Kursk II was poured in April 2018 (Photo: Rosatom)
