Leningrad II has started supplying district heating (Credit: Rosenergoatom)Unit 2 of Russia’s Leningrad-II nuclear power plant (also known as Leningrad 6) was connected to the heat supply and hot water supply of Sosnovy Bor on 12 November, the plant reported.

The new cogeneration plant (TPU), together with a similar installation at unit 1 of the Leningrad-II plant (both VVER-1200 units), along with and two installations at units 3 and 4 of the original Leningrad NPP (RBMK-1000 units) will supply heating to more than 65,000 residents, hundreds of Sosnovy Bor businesses, as well as educational, cultural and medical institutions.

Leningrad-II 2 is now taking over from Leningrad 2, which has been closed down, station director Vladimir Pereguda noted. The unit began pilot operation earlier in November and will be formally commissioned in 2021.

Meanwhile, Leningrad II-1 has been shut down for its second outage since the power unit was put into commercial operation in October 2018. The repairs will be completed by January 2021.

During the schedule outage, a third of the nuclear fuel assemblies will be replaced with fresh assemblies and the other assemblies will be rearranged in accordance with the reloading scheme developed according to neutron-physical calculations. Elements of the reactor control and protection system located in the core will also be partially rearranged.

Repairs will be carried out by Lenatomenergoremont (a branch of Atomenergoremont), as well as by the repair services of the main divisions of Leningrad-II. In total, more than 1000 specialists are involved in the work, including engineering and technical workers, NDT inspectors, mechanics and electrical fitters, turners, milling machines, etc.


Photo: Leningrad II nuclear plant (Credit: Rosenergoatom)