Concreting of the foundation slab of a key building has been completed at the construction site Leningrad NPP unit 8 (also referred to as Leningrad-II unit 4). The building will house important safety systems (in particular, the control panel of the refuelling machine). This is one of the seven facilities that make up the nuclear island.
For the construction of the 2,000-square-metre foundation, with a thickness of 1,500 mm, the builders needed more than 950 tonnes of steel reinforcement and 3,000 cubic metres of particularly durable concrete. High-quality components were used to prepare the concrete mix for the foundation. The first seven-day tests of the hardened structure by non-destructive testing methods confirmed its strength. Further inspections of the finished foundation will be carried out.
“Construction work on all nuclear island facilities of the fourth power unit is ahead of schedule,” said Konstantin Khudyakov, Director for the Leningrad NPP Facilities Programme at Titan-2. “Currently, the main efforts are focused on the reinforcement and concreting of foundation slabs. We prepared the foundation for the security building 23 days ahead of schedule. This became possible due to the timely supply of materials, a sufficient number of personnel and their high qualifications, as well as due to competent work planning and precise process management at the facility. We plan to continue working at the same pace so that the foundations of all seven buildings of the nuclear island will be fully ready by the beginning of December this year.”
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.
