Unit 2 of Russia’s Kola NPP on 20 December received a licence from the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor) allowing it to operate for another 15 years until 2034.
“This was the culmination of the many months of work by the entire plant staff, hundreds of employees of contracting companies, and scientific and design organisations, which resulted in equipment modernisation and the introduction of the most advanced safety systems,” said plant director Vasily Omelchuk, director of the Kola NPP. The total funding for the life extension programme was RUB4.5 billion ($72m), making it one of the biggest investment projects in the Murmansk region. Kola NPP generates more than half of all electricity in the region and provides electricity to most of the largest industrial enterprises and municipalities. Kola NPP has four VVER-440 reactors. Units 1 and 2 are V-230 models and 3 and 4 are of the V-213 design. Units 1, 3 and 4 have already received licence extensions – to 2033, 2027 and 2029, respectively. Since 2001, the service life of 27 Russian power units has been extended. Three of them have already worked out their additional service life and preparations are underway for their decommissioning.
