Work is 2.5 months ahead of schedule at the construction site of Leningrad NPP unit 7. “Good construction rates and unconditional high quality assurance will reduce the construction time of the reactor building as a whole,” said the Director General of Russian nuclear utility Rosenergoatom, Alexander Shutikov. “According to the schedule, 65 months are allotted for this. Taking into account the experience of building units 5&6, the availability of necessary materials, equipment, documentation and personnel, we have every chance to finish earlier. We will also carry out installation of equipment, its commissioning and testing ahead of schedule, but carefully.”
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.
“The recipe for a durable base for the reactor building is not complicated – the quality of source ingredients that make up the concrete mixture and their correct proportions; pouring the concrete mixture without stopping; and proper concrete care until it is completely hardened,” explained Konstantin Khudyakov, Director of the Leningrad NPP Facilities Programme at Titan-2. “It is also important that the work is carried out by highly qualified construction personnel. We have strictly complied with all these requirements, so we are sure, that checking the bottom of the finished foundation using non-destructive test methods will prove its high quality and strength. This foundation will definitely pass examination as excellent.”
At the next stage, builders will begin to reinforce and concrete the upper part of the foundation of the reactor building, increasing its thickness by almost one and a half metres. At the same time, pipelines will be laid. The foundation will be ready in the autumn after which construction of the internal containment of the reactor building, the construction of internal ceilings and the installation of equipment will begin.
According to Vladimir Pereguda, Director of the Leningrad NPP, the first 14 facilities are currently being built and work is on schedule. “Two of them will be put into operation before the end of July – a combined pumping station for fire fighting and water supply will supply of the facilities under construction, and a transformer substation 110/10 kV will provide reliable power supply to all new construction projects,” he noted.
Currently some 400 people are working at the construction site of units 7&8. At unit 7 construction personnel are preparing to concrete the foundation plates for the nuclear island buildings, developing a foundation pit for a turbine island and installing a pile field for the fourth cooling tower.
At unit 8, builders have already developed a foundation pit for the reactor building and are undertaking reservoir drainage. In the next stages, they will deal with lightning protection and waterproofing of the site, in order to subsequently begin to reinforce the foundation of the reactor building. First concrete for the reactor building will take place in the spring of 2025. It is expected that by the end of the year, as new facilities are opened, the number of will triple.
