Leningrad II may be delayed by a year, says project chief

Monday, 16 February 2015

The head of the Leningrad Phase II nuclear power plant construction project in western Russia has said commissioning of all four of the planned units may be delayed by a year.

Yuri Galanchuk made the remark at a meeting on 11 February with local government officials in Sosnovy Bor, an area of Leningrad Oblast where the new plant is under construction. The meeting was reported by local magazine Mayak.

First criticality of unit 1, scheduled for the end of 2015, may be postponed by a year, Galanchuk said. Startup of unit 2 is planned for 2017 but may be delayed until unit 1 of the existing Leningrad nuclear power plant has been withdrawn from service, which is expected in 2018.

Startup of units 3 and 4 of the new plant is planned for 2020 and 2021, respectively, but may also be delayed, he said.

Leningrad Phase II is a new nuclear power plant adjacent to the existing Leningrad nuclear plant site. Two 1200 MWe AES-2006 design units are being built there, with two further AES-2006 units planned.

Atomenergomash subsidiary ZIO-Podolsk said earlier this month that the first of four steam generators destined for unit 2 of the Leningrad II plant had begun its journey from the manufacturing plant near Moscow. Each AES-2006 unit will employ four steam generators.

Steam generators are used in pressurized water reactors to transfer heat from the reactor's primary coolant circuit to a secondary circuit - turning water into steam that goes on to drive turbines and generate electricity.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News