Laes 2. Stations and projects

There is no need to look at the fact that Bellona - reliable information correlates with 2 top sources.

We only realized the scale and disastrous consequences of the Chernobyl disaster over time. Even the conclusions reached by the creator of the RBMK, the Academy of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Anatoly Petrovich Aleksandrov, turned out to be murderous. He, who had previously claimed that the nuclear reactor was so safe that it could even be placed on Red Square, was deeply shocked by what happened.

However, a similar accident almost happened 11 years earlier near Leningrad. In those years, it was classified; not a single media outlet in the USSR talked about it. Why, even the residents of Sosnovy Bor, where the station is located, had no idea what had happened. Although the radiation background on the city streets was exceeded by thousands, or even more times...

Today we publish information about what happened 40 years ago at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant. The material is based on the memoirs of contemporaries and documents that are in the public domain. We do not disclose the names of station shift personnel for ethical reasons.

The neighbors' dosimeters went off scale

On the morning of November 30, 1975, the LNPP duty officer received a call from a nearby research and technological institute: “Are you all right? Our dosimeters are off the charts. But everything is clean on the territory of the institute. Most likely, it’s something you have”... So at NITI (Research Institute named after A.P. Alexandrov), located three kilometers from the first block of the Leningrad NPP, they responded to an aerosol release carried by air currents from the station. This was the first signal about an accident recorded outside its zone.

According to the testimony of Vitaly Abakumov, a participant in the events, who worked on that shift as a reactor control engineer, on November 30 at 6:33 a.m., “several alarm signals appeared at once at the reactor control room, indicating a violation of the integrity of the process channels.” This is the time of the accident.

More than 200 norms

But information about the accident was immediately classified. Neither the country, nor the city, nor even the station employees knew about it.

“By that time, I was working as a senior turbine control engineer,” says former Leningrad NPP employee Valery Koptyaev. – On November 30, my shift was on a day off. When I arrived at the control room on December 1, I saw my replacement, Mikhail Khudyakov, wearing a respirator. I already knew that the block was stopped, but I had no idea why. Typically, management from the director and chief engineer to shop managers and their deputies in those years came to our morning planning meeting in suits, ties and regular shoes. That day I saw management in white overalls and special boots. I ask Mikhail: “Why are you wearing a respirator, what is the level of aerosols in the air?” “I don’t know exactly, but more than 200 norms, dosimetrists said,” he answered. Later we found out how much “dirt” was spread not only throughout the station, but also in the city.”

Due to staff error

So what happened back in 1975? Vitaly Abakumov talks about this in detail. On the night of November 30, one of the two operating turbogenerators (TG) had to be unloaded and taken out for repairs. The operators unloaded the required generator. But by mistake, instead of the unloaded one, a working TG was disconnected from the network. Which led to the activation of emergency protection and shutdown of the reactor. “Realizing that the staff had made a mistake, the station shift manager gave the command to start up the mistakenly disabled TG as quickly as possible,” recalls Abakumov. “All preparations for turning on and accepting the load on the TG took place in a nervous environment, against the backdrop of a real threat of unacceptable poisoning of the reactor, falling into the iodine pit and subsequent long-term downtime of the unit.”

To accelerate the reactor, operators had to remove almost all the control rods from it. And bringing the reactor power to a minimum controllable level turned into a dangerous and difficult task for the senior reactor control engineer (SIUR), prohibited by technological regulations. However, the shift supervisor and SIUR committed the violation without hesitation. They sought to compensate for the consequences of operator error, since the main indicator at that time was the electricity generation plan. Reactor downtime means loss of accumulated megawatt-hours!

Violations of technological regulations were never welcomed. But at the same time, they were not recognized as dangerous in those days. “Therefore, violations of the lower regulatory limit of the operational reactivity margin (ORM) were common practice at LNPP and were secretly perceived as evidence of the special skill of SIUR,” writes Abakumov.

Goat

“The RBMK reactor is large not only in its design parameters, but also from the point of view of reactor physics, which means it is possible to achieve criticality not only for the reactor as a whole, but also in local areas of the reactor core,” continues Abakumov. – With total “poisoning” of the reactor core and the virtual absence of means of influencing reactivity (all control rods were removed), the senior engineer managed to bring the reactor to the minimum controlled level, not “as a whole”, but only in a limited area adjacent to the fuel channel 13-33 . Outside this area, the core remained “poisoned”.

Further rapid energy loading of this local area led to overheating and massive destruction of the cladding of fuel elements (fuel elements). The destruction of fuel assemblies due to their melting is called a “goat” in the professional slang of nuclear scientists. As Abakumov recalls, when the alarm went off, “the senior engineer’s reaction was immediate: “I’m shutting down the reactor!” “And the reactor was shut down with the AZ button [emergency protection button], without hesitation or doubt.”

Reactor physics saved the day

“Leningrad Chernobyl” could well have taken place at the 1st power unit of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant after pressing the AZ button, which resets all control rods into the core to shut down the reactor, says Vitaly Abakumov. – Just like what happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, whose operating personnel made a similar decision. The situation was saved not by the actions of the station operators, but by the physics of the reactor. The fact is that the Laes reactor was significantly “fresher” than the Chernobyl reactor in terms of the degree of average fuel burnup in the core.”

Many years later, an article “Accident at Unit No. 1 of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant (USSR) associated with the destruction of a technological channel” will appear on the website of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation, ending with the following conclusion: “Unfortunately, the operating personnel have not properly (best of all - using the example of the accident on November 30. 75 at the Leningrad NPP) the dangerous combination was not brought to fruition: “high burnup + low ORM ... + low power,” which led to the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl NPP.”

"Glowing" city

“As a result of the cessation of heat removal from the process channel, the fuel assembly collapsed,” writes on the ramboff.ru forum (there are 1,693 such assemblies in the RBMK-1000 reactor). – And uranium fission products (Cs137, Cs134, Ce144, Sr 90, etc.), transuranium elements (Pu 238, Pu 239, Am 241, etc.) ended up in the graphite masonry of the reactor. The emergency release of radioactivity into the atmosphere continued for a month (!). According to various estimates, from 137 thousand to 1.5 million Ci of radioactive substances entered the environment. Tons of liquid radioactive waste were dumped into the Baltic Sea." (For comparison: during the Chernobyl accident, 50 million Ci were released into the environment.)

Immediately after the accident, background radiation in the city of Sosnovy Bor reached from 650 micro-roentgens to several roentgens per hour, as indicated in various sources. It turns out that the city literally “glowed”. An increase in background radiation was recorded in Finland. At the same time, residents of Sosnovy Bor and the countries of the Baltic region who were exposed to radiation were not notified of the danger. Of course, it was extremely lucky that in 1975 they escaped with a slight fright. Although, it is quite possible that for some “Leningrad Chernobyl” turned out to be fatal. And, perhaps, the accident that happened 41 years ago continues to collect new victims, because the half-life of transuranium elements is tens of thousands of years...

A nuclear power plant under construction in the city of Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad Region. Power units: 1. VVER-1200/491 1170 MW (construction); 2. VVER-1200/491 1170 MW (structure).

The station construction site is located 35 km west of the border of St. Petersburg and 70 km from the historical center.

Commissioning of the first power unit is scheduled for 2014, the second - for 2015, the third - for 2017, the fourth - for 2019.

The construction project of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant-2 (LNPP-2) is included in the Long-Term Activities Program of the state corporation Rosatom. The ceremonial laying of the capsule at the site of the future LNPP-2 took place on August 30, 2007. The event was attended by Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Boris Gryzlov, Head of the Rosatom State Corporation Sergei Kiriyenko and Governor of the Leningrad Region Valery Serdyukov.

On February 28, 2008, JSC SPbAEP was recognized as the winner of the open competition to select the general contractor for the construction of the first two power units of LNPP-2. And on March 14, a state contract was signed, which consists of design, survey, construction, installation and commissioning work, and also includes the supply of equipment, materials and products.

LNPP-2 is the result of the evolutionary development of the most common and, as a result, the most technically advanced type of station - NPP with VVER (water-cooled water power reactors). Water is used as a coolant and as a neutron moderator in such a reactor. The internationally accepted abbreviation for these reactors is PWR (pressurized water reactor). The closest analogue is the Tianwan NPP in China, also built according to the project of JSC SPbAEP and put into commercial operation in 2007.

The LNPP-2 project meets all modern international safety requirements. It uses four active channels of safety systems (duplicating each other), a melt localization device, a passive heat removal system from under the reactor shell, and a passive heat removal system from steam generators. None of the operating stations in the world are equipped with a similar configuration of safety systems.

The electrical power of each VVER-1200 type power unit is determined at 1198.8 MW, heating power - 250 Gcal/h. The estimated service life of LNPP-2 is 50 years, the main equipment is 60 years. Commissioning of the first power unit is scheduled for 2014.

Specifications

Power unit type	AES-2006 (1, 2 block LNPP-2)
Number of power units, pcs.	4
Design life of the power unit, years	50
Electrical power of the power unit (gross), MW, not less	1198,8
Heating capacity of the power unit, Gcal/h (MW)	250 (300)
Efficiency net power unit when the turbine operates in condensing mode, %	33,9
Annual supply of electricity (for four power units), million kWh	32,8
Forecasted average annual amount of supplied thermal energy (for two power units of the first stage) when the NPP operates in the base mode, thousand Gcal	1350
Turbo installation	K-1200-6.8/50
Scheme of circulating water supply of a turbine unit	Reversible with evaporative cooling towers
Scheme of technical water supply for systems important for safety	Reverse with splash pools
Frequency of severe core damage, per reactor per year	less than 10 -6
Frequency of maximum emergency release, per reactor per year	less than 10 -7
Radius of the sanitary protection zone, m	800

Construction stages

• 12.2005 – technical requirements for the design of a promising nuclear power plant with VVER have been received; with a capacity of more than 1000 MW (unified project "AES-2006");
• 07.2006 – the terms of reference for the basic project “NPP-2006” were approved;
• 05.2007 – a license was received for the location of LNPP-2 of the AES-2006 project;
• 30.08 2007 – the ceremonial laying of the capsule took place at the site of the future construction of LNPP-2;
• 10.2007 – priority work has begun on the construction site of Leningrad NPP-2
• 11.2007 – the LNPP-2 project was approved;
• 28.02.2008 – a general contractor was selected for the construction of the first stage of LNPP-2. It became JSC SPbAEP;
• 14.03.2008 – a state contract was signed for the construction of the first stage of LNPP-2;
• 11.06.2008 – a license was issued for the construction of power unit No. 1 of LNPP-2;
• 25.10.2008 – the “first concrete” was poured into the foundation slab of the reactor building of power unit No. 1. The main stage of construction work has begun;
• 16.06.2009 – public discussions took place on the materials of the preliminary environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the construction and future operation of the second stage of LNPP-2 (power units No. 3 and No. 4);
• 15.07.2009 – a license was issued for the construction of power unit No. 2 of LNPP-2;
• 19.12.2009 – start of installation of the melt trap at power unit No. 1;
• April 2010 – the “first concrete” was poured into the foundation slab of the reactor building of power unit No. 2;
• June 2010 – land with an area of ​​118 hectares was received for the construction of facilities and infrastructure of the second stage of LNPP-2;
• September 2010 – the construction of the shell of cooling tower No. 1 was completed, its height was 150 meters;
• January 2011 – Since December 29, the Sosnovy Bor City Court suspended the construction of the station in two administrative cases for 30 and 40 days, respectively. The lack of water supply for household purposes, a temporary sewerage network, shortcomings in the organization of energy supply, the lack of a food service for workers (canteen), as well as a fire water supply in accordance with the requirements of the law were established. On the morning of January 11, the Sosnovy Bor City Court considered the petition of representatives of JSC SPbAEP for early termination of the execution of court decisions. On January 11, 2011, work was resumed in full;
• 17.07.2011 – a reinforcement frame collapsed at the construction site of the first power unit;
• October 2011 – work on dismantling the emergency reinforcement frame;
• December 2011 - start of construction of cooling tower No. 2;
• January 2012 - dismantling of the low-circuit valves of the reactor building has been completed;
• 21.02.2012 – an agreement was signed to replace the party in the contract for construction and installation work on LNPP-2. FSUE "GUSST No. 3 under Spetsstroy of Russia" becomes the new general contractor;
• May 2012 - start of concreting the air intake of the reactor building;
• February 2013 - On the reactor building of power unit No. 1, a pressurized lining of the air intake was installed at elevation. +22.00 to mark. +34.20; concreting of the air barrier up to elevation. +19.50; concreting the low-level zone up to elevation. +19.50; concreting the ceiling at elevation. +8.00; reinforcement of the reactor shaft to elevation. +11.27. On the turbine building of power unit No. 1, the foundation for the turbine unit was concreted; installation of cranes with a capacity of 220 t., 50.15; installation of metal structures of roof trusses; concreting walls above elevation. +15.90. On the reactor building of power unit No. 2, a cladding device was installed for the air intake at elevation. -1.25 to mark. +9.40; concreting of low-level zone with elevation. -1.25 to mark. +2.50; concreting the reactor shaft to elevation. -1.25; installation of internal building structures up to elevation. -1.25.
• April 2013 - on the reactor building of power unit No. 1, concreting of the internal containment shell (ICO) was completed from elevation +19.75 to elevation +23.45; work on reinforcing the air defense zone was completed from level +23.50 to level +27.50; Concreting of the outer containment shell (OCC) was completed from elevation +23.75 to elevation +27.45. A Liebherr 11350 crane with a lifting capacity of 1,350 tons was delivered and assembled to the construction site. A turbine hall crane with a lifting capacity of 220+220 tons was put into operation at the turbine building of power unit No. 1.
• July 2013 - construction of cooling tower No. 2 has been completed.
• September 2013 – work began on the installation of a steam turbine in the turbine room of power unit No. 1.
• September 2013 – installation of the base of the reactor dome has begun.
• December 2013 - the functions of the general contractor of Leningrad NPP-2 were transferred to JSC Atomenergoproekt.
• December 29, 2013 - installation of a polar crane has begun in the reactor building of power unit No. 1.
• June 1, 2014 - MCP housings, a pressure compensator, and a reactor vessel are installed in the reactor building.
• June 2014 - a VZO dome was installed on the reactor building.
• September 2014 - construction of the third cooling tower began.
• February 2015 - installation and welding of the main circulation pump is completed
• March 2015 - The Titan-2 concern becomes the new general contractor of the Leningrad NPP-2.
• September 2015 - the merger of LNPP and LNPP-2 took place.
• November 2015 - installation of the turbogenerator stator in its original place.
• February 20, 2016 - the first cubic meter of chemically desalted water was produced according to the standard scheme.
• March 20, 2016 - installation of the reloading machine began.
• April 27, 2016 - installation of the reactor containment prestressing system for power unit No. 1 has begun.
• June 20, 2016 - work on supplying voltage to the automated process control system has been completed.
• July 18, 2016 - the first stage of spilling technological systems into the open reactor has been completed.

On March 9, 2018 at 09:19 (Moscow time) at the innovative power unit No. 1 of generation “3+” with the VVER-1200 reactor of the Leningrad NPP-2 (a branch of the Rosenergoatom Concern, part of the Electric Power Division of Rosatom), the most important operation was performed - a generator synchronized with the network and the power unit began to produce the first kilowatt-hours of electrical energy into the country's unified energy system.

“The new, super-powerful Leningrad power unit began producing the first electricity and moved from the category of those under construction to the category of operating ones. I congratulate the staff of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, as well as designers, builders, installers and adjusters on the birth of a new nuclear giant!”, said the General Director of the State Corporation Rosatom, commenting on the significant event. Alexey Likhachev.

As explained by the chief engineer of the Leningrad NPP under construction Alexander Belyaev, to connect the generator to the network, the thermal power of the VVER-1200 reactor was raised to the level of 35% of the nominal, and the high-speed turbine K-1200-6.8/50 was successfully brought to a rotation speed of 3000 rpm. The new power unit of the Leningrad NPP was connected to the energy system at a minimum level of electrical power of 240 MW and must operate in this mode for the 4 hours provided for by the program. During this time, it will generate about 1 million kWh of electricity.

“Today we once again checked the reliability and safety of the functioning of the technological systems of the starting power unit. The operation was considered successful. There are no comments regarding the operation of the equipment. Having supplied the first kilowatts to the network, we have completed the power start-up stage, and are ready to proceed to the next stage – pilot industrial operation,” commented the director of the Leningrad NPP on the results of the operation. Vladimir Pereguda.

Power unit No. 1 of the Leningrad NPP-2 with a VVER-1200 reactor is the second power unit of this type in the world; the first one was launched in 2016 at the Novovoronezh NPP. Let us recall that launch operations at power unit No. 1 of LNPP-2 began on December 8, 2017, when the first fuel assemblies with fresh nuclear fuel were loaded into the reactor core (Physical Start-up stage). On February 6, 2018, the reactor installation of power unit No. 1 was brought to the minimum controlled power level, giving rise to a number of tests. On February 15, 2018, the physical start-up program for VVER-1200 power unit No. 1 was completed in full.

The innovative, most powerful to date power units with pressurized water power reactors VVER-1200, being built at LNPP-2, were developed by ATOMPROEKT JSC, a leading enterprise of the Rosatom State Corporation, carrying out comprehensive design of nuclear industry facilities, scientific research and development of nuclear energy technologies new generation. The power units designed by ATOMPROEKT belong to the latest generation “3+”. They use the most advanced achievements and developments that meet all post-Fukushima requirements.

The main feature of the VVER-1200 project is a unique combination of active and passive safety systems that make the plant maximally resistant to external and internal influences. A characteristic feature of passive systems is their ability to operate in situations where there is no power supply and without operator intervention. In particular, on a unit with a VVER-1200 reactor the following are used: a “melt trap” - a device used to localize the melt of the core of a nuclear reactor; a system of passive heat removal through steam generators (PHRS), designed in the absence of all sources of power supply to ensure long-term removal of heat from the reactor core into the atmosphere, etc.

In addition to unique safety systems, the new VVER-1200 power units of the Leningrad NPP, which are coming into operation, have a number of other advantages compared to existing power units with high-power channel reactors (RBMK): they are 20% more powerful, and the service life of their non-replaceable equipment is increased by 2 times and is 60 years (which is 10 years longer than the design life of the nuclear power plant itself).

Today, the Leningrad NPP, the 1st power unit of which was put into operation 45 years ago, continues to operate reliably and safely - during all the years of operation there has not been a single serious incident at the station.

The station remains the largest electricity producer in the Russian North-West. Its share is 27% of total output. At the same time, LNPP provides more than 50% of the energy consumption of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, which are increasing their industrial and economic potential year after year. In 2017, the share of the Leningrad NPP in the regional volume of electricity generation was 44.8%; share in the real volume of supplies to consumers – 53.88%.

According to preliminary estimates, after the Leningrad NPP-2 power unit No. 1 is put into commercial operation, the economic effect in the form of additional taxes to the consolidated budget of the Leningrad region will amount to more than 3 billion rubles (on an annual basis).

The production and supply of key equipment for the reactor compartment of block No. 1 of generation “3+” was carried out by enterprises of the Mechanical Engineering Division of Rosatom - JSC Atomenergomash. In particular, the holding's enterprises produced main circulation pumps, a full set of steam generators, a core melt localization device, an emergency cooling system for the reactor zone, a transport gateway, an automated radiation monitoring system, automated control system subsystems and other types of equipment.

Leningrad NPP is a branch of Rosenergoatom Concern JSC. The station is located in the city of Sosnovy Bor, 40 km west of St. Petersburg on the shores of the Gulf of Finland. LNPP is the first station in the country with RBMK-1000 reactors (uranium-graphite channel-type thermal neutron nuclear reactors). The nuclear power plant operates 4 power units with an electrical capacity of 1000 MW each. The first replacement power unit with the VVER-1200 reactor is at the “energy start-up” stage. The construction of the second VVER-1200 power unit is also ongoing. The customer and developer of the project is JSC Rosenergoatom Concern; the general designer is ATOMPROEKT JSC, the general contractor is CONCERN TITAN-2 JSC.

It is difficult for modern people to imagine life without electricity. We prepare food, use lighting, and use electrical appliances in everyday life: refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners and computers; listening to music, talking on the phone - these are just a few things that are very difficult to do without. All these devices have one thing in common - they use electricity as their “power”. 7 million people live in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region (*according to Rosstat as of January 1, 2016), this number is comparable to the population of the states of Serbia, Bulgaria or Jordan. 7 million people use electricity every day, where does it come from?

Leningrad NPP is the largest electricity producer in the North-West; the share of electricity supply for the period from January to October 2016 was 56.63%. During this period, the power plant produced 20 billion 530.74 kW ∙ hours of electricity into the energy system of our region.

LNPP is a sensitive facility and it is not possible for a “random” person to get to it. Having completed the necessary documents, we visited the main premises of the power plant:

1. Block control panel

2. Reactor room of the power unit

3. Machine room.

Sanitation checkpoint

Having gone through a two-level identity control system, we found ourselves at the sanitary checkpoint.

We are equipped with: safety shoes, a white coat, trousers and a shirt, white socks and a helmet. Passing through the sanitary checkpoint is strictly regulated. Safety is a key corporate value of Rosatom.

An individual dosimeter is required. It is of a cumulative type, leaving the LNPP building we find out what dose of radiation we received during our stay at the power plant. The natural radioactive background that surrounds us ranges from 0.11 to 0.16 μSv/hour.

Filming in the corridors of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant is strictly prohibited; only specialists know how to get from room A to room B. Let's move to the first point of the tour.

Block Control Panel

Each power unit is controlled from the block control panel (MCC). The Block Control Panel is a control room in which information about the measured parameters of the power plant operation is collected and processed.

Denis Stukanev, shift supervisor at power unit No. 2 of the Leningrad NPP, talks about the work of the Nuclear Power Plant, the installed equipment, and the “life” of the power plant.

There are 5 unique workplaces in the room: 3 operators, a supervisor and a deputy. shift supervisor. The control room equipment can be divided into 3 blocks responsible for: control of the reactor, turbines and pumps.

If the main parameters deviate beyond the established limits, a sound and light alarm is issued indicating the deviation parameter.

The collection and processing of incoming information is carried out in the SKALA information and measurement system.

Power unit reactor.

Leningrad NPP contains 4 power units. The electric power of each is 1000 MW, the thermal power is 3200 MW. The design output is 28 billion kWh per year.

LNPP is the first station in the country with RBMK-1000 reactors (high power channel reactor). The development of the RBMK was a significant step in the development of nuclear power in the USSR, since such reactors make it possible to create large, high-power nuclear power plants.

Energy conversion in a nuclear power plant unit with RBMK occurs according to a single-circuit scheme. Boiling water from the reactor is passed through separator drums. Then saturated steam (temperature 284 °C) under a pressure of 65 atmospheres is supplied to two turbogenerators with an electric power of 500 MW each. The exhaust steam is condensed, after which circulation pumps supply water to the reactor inlet.

Equipment for routine maintenance of RBMK-100 type reactors. It was used to restore the resource characteristics of the reactor.

One of the advantages of the RBMK reactor is the ability to reload nuclear fuel while the reactor is running without reducing power. A loading and unloading machine is used for reloading. Controlled by the operator remotely. During overload, the radiation situation in the hall does not change significantly. The installation of the machine over the corresponding reactor channel is carried out according to coordinates, and precise guidance is carried out using an optical-television system.

Spent nuclear fuel is loaded into sealed tanks filled with water. The holding time of spent fuel assemblies in pools is 3 years. At the end of this period, the assemblies are disposed of - sending them to spent nuclear fuel storage facilities.

The photographs show the Cherenkov-Vavilov effect, in which a glow occurs caused in a transparent medium by a charged particle that moves at a speed exceeding the phase speed of light in this medium.

This radiation was discovered in 1934 by P.A. Cherenkov and explained in 1937 by I.E. Tamm and I.M. Frank. All three were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1958 for this discovery.

Engine room

One RBMK-1000 reactor supplies steam to two turbines with a capacity of 500 MW each. The turbo unit consists of one low-pressure cylinder and four high-pressure cylinders. The turbine is the most complex unit after the reactor in a nuclear power plant.

The principle of operation of any turbine is similar to the principle of operation of a windmill. In windmills, the air flow rotates the blades and does work. In a turbine, steam rotates blades arranged in a circle on a rotor. The turbine rotor is rigidly connected to the generator rotor, which, when rotated, produces current.

The LNPP turbogenerator consists of a saturated steam turbine type K-500-65 and a synchronous three-phase current generator TVV-500-2 with a speed of 3000 per minute.

In 1979, for the creation of the unique K-500-65/3000 turbine for the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, a team of Kharkov turbine builders was awarded the State Prize of Ukraine in the field of science and technology.

Leaving LNPP...

The main premises of the Leningrad NPP have been examined, we are again at the sanitary checkpoint. We check ourselves for the presence of radiation sources, everything is clean, we are healthy and happy. While at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, my accumulated radiation dose was 13 μSv, which is comparable to an airplane flight over a distance of 3000 km.

Second life of LNPP

The problem of decommissioning power units is a very pressing topic, due to the fact that in 2018 the operating life of power unit No. 1 of the Leningrad NPP expires.

Ruslan Kotykov, Deputy Head of the Department for Decommissioning of LNPP Units: “The most acceptable, safest and most financially profitable option for immediate liquidation has been chosen. It implies the absence of deferred decisions and delays in observations after the unit is stopped. The experience of decommissioning RBMK reactors will be replicated at other nuclear power plants.”

A few kilometers from the operating Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, the “construction site of the century” is taking place. Russia is implementing a large-scale program for the development of nuclear energy, which involves increasing the share of nuclear energy from 16% to 25-30% by 2020. To replace the capacity of the Leningrad NPP being decommissioned, a new generation nuclear power plant with a VVER-1200 type reactor (water-water power reactor) of the AES-2006 project is being created. “AES-2006” is a standard design of a Russian nuclear power plant of the new generation “3+” with improved technical and economic indicators. The goal of the project is to achieve modern safety and reliability indicators with optimized capital investments for the construction of the station.

Nikolai Kashin, head of the information and public relations department of power units under construction, spoke about the LNPP-2 project being created. This project meets modern international safety requirements.

The electrical capacity of each power unit is 1198.8 MW, heating capacity is 250 Gcal/h.

The estimated service life of LNPP-2 is 50 years, the main equipment is 60 years.

The main feature of the project being implemented is the use of additional passive safety systems in combination with active traditional systems. Provides protection against earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and plane crashes. Examples of improvements include the double containment of the reactor hall; a “trap” for the core melt, located under the reactor vessel; passive residual heat removal system.

I remember the words of Vladimir Pereguda, director of Leningrad NPP: “The design of power units with VVER-1200 reactors has unprecedented multi-level safety systems, including passive ones (which do not require personnel intervention and power supply), as well as protection from external influences.”

At the construction site of the new power units of the Leningrad NPP, the installation of equipment for the pumping station of turbine building consumers continues; three housings of circulation pump units have been installed and concreted. Pumping units are the main technological equipment of the facility and consist of two parts - pumps and electric motors.

The power supply to the power system from power unit No. 1 of LNPP-2 will be carried out through a complete gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) at 330 kV, from power unit No. 2 of LNPP-2 it is expected for voltages of 330 and 750 kV.

On February 22, 2018 at 03:15 at Leningrad NPP-2 (a branch of the Rosenergoatom Concern, part of the Electric Power Division of Rosatom), the power start-up stage of the innovative power unit No. 1 of generation “3+” with the VVER-1200 reactor began. Permission to begin the power start-up phase was issued by the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision of the Russian Federation (Rostechnadzor).

Now there is a gradual increase in the power of power unit No. 1 of the Leningrad NPP-2 and its preparation for the start of electricity generation, that is, directly for the power start-up, which is expected in the first ten days of March this year.

Let us recall that the power start-up stage includes a set of measures to gradually increase the reactor power in several steps from 1% (achieved during physical start-up) to a power level that ensures the start of electricity generation (35% of the nominal) and further to a power level that ensures the unit’s readiness for pilot testing. industrial operation (50% of nominal). When the reactor power reaches approximately 35% of the nominal value, it becomes possible to turn on the unit’s turbogenerator for the first time to the network (since only at this power the power unit’s steam generators produce enough steam to start the turbine and ensure its normal operation). This is followed by a long stage of gradual increase in power to nominal as part of the pilot operation phase of the new power unit.

“During the power start-up stage, a comprehensive testing of the power unit will be carried out during the phased development of the design capacity, up to the level established for the trial operation stage of the nuclear power plant,” noted Alexander Belyaev, chief engineer of the Leningrad NPP under construction. - This is necessary to once again confirm the reliability and safety of equipment and technological systems. Only after this the power unit will be synchronized with the country’s unified energy grid and begin to supply the first kilowatt-hours to it.”

In turn, the director of the Leningrad NPP, Vladimir Pereguda, noted: “Receiving permission from Rostekhnadzor means that all the work provided for at the previous stage of the physical start-up has been completed by us in full, the real values ​​of the neutronic characteristics of the reactor core correspond to the calculated ones. No adjustments to the design and operational documentation of the power unit are required. We can move on to the next stage of putting the power unit into operation – the power start-up stage.”

Currently, experts are preparing to gradually increase the reactor power to 30%. These are exactly the values ​​that are necessary to start generating steam and test the turbine.

For reference:

Start-up operations at power unit No. 1 of Leningrad NPP-2 began on December 8, 2017, when the first fuel assemblies with fresh nuclear fuel were loaded into the reactor core (Physical Start-up stage). On February 6, 2018, the reactor installation of power unit No. 1 was brought to the minimum controlled power level, giving rise to a number of tests. On February 15, 2018, the physical start-up program for VVER-1200 power unit No. 1 was completed in full.

The innovative, most powerful power units to date with water-cooled power reactors VVER-1200, being built at the Leningrad NPP-2, belong to the newest generation “3+”. They use the most advanced achievements and developments that meet all post-Fukushima requirements. The main feature of the VVER-1200 project is a unique combination of active and passive safety systems that make the plant maximally resistant to external and internal influences. In particular, the unit with the VVER-1200 reactor uses: a “melt trap” - a device used to localize the melt of the core of a nuclear reactor, a passive heat removal system through steam generators (PHRS), designed in the absence of all sources of power supply to ensure long-term removal to the atmosphere heat from the reactor core, etc.