Unit 2 of Russia’s Novovoronezh II nuclear plant supplied electricity to the grid for the first time on 1 May.
Nuclear utility Rosenergoatom, part of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said the VVER-1200 reactor, which was brought to the minimum controlled power level on 22 March, had reached a capacity of 240MWe.
Rosenergoatom General Director Andrey Petrov added that the milestone had been reached 12 days ahead of schedule. "Once the power unit has been included in the network, a pilot production programme will begin, which will provide for a phased increase in power to the nominal level – 100%. In December, we’ll put the unit into operation."
Alexander Lokshin, first deputy director general for Operational Management at Rosatom, said a significant amount of work has still to be done before commissioning the unit. Novovoronezh II-2 will be the third VVER-1200 to be commissioned. Novovoronezh II-1 was launched in 2016 and Leningrad II-1 in 2017.
