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Last of four Kola units gets extended operation licence

Monday, 23 December 2019

Russian regulator Rostechnadzor has issued a 15-year operating licence extension for unit 2 of the Kola nuclear power plant to 2034. Kola NPP is located 200 km south of Murmansk, on the shore of Lake Imandra. It produces about 60% of the electricity of the Murmansk region.

Last of four Kola units gets extended operation licence — Kola nuclear power plant in Murmansk (Image: Rosatom)

The four Kola units are VVER-440 reactors; 1 and 2 are V-230 models and 3 and 4 are of the V-213 type. Units 1, 3 and 4 have already received licence extensions - to 2033, 2027 and 2029, respectively. Kola NPP is a branch of Rosenergoatom, Rosatom's operator subsidiary.

Vasily Omelchuk, Kola NPP director, said the licence exntesion for unit 2 marked the culmination of "many months of work by the entire plant staff, hundreds of contractors, research and design organisations" to upgrade all of the equipment and introduce the most advanced safety systems.

Rosatom said the new licence means that the Kola plant, not only guarantees the continued supply of more than half of the electricity needed in the region, but also stimulates the creation of new energy-intensive industries in the Kola Arctic.

Funding for the programme to extend the operation of unit 2 amounted to about RUB4.5 billion (USD72.2 million), making it one of biggest investment projects in the Murmansk region, Rosatom said.