Two more power units are to be be built at Russia’s Novovoronezh NPP in the mid-2030s, Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev said on 1 April, during a working trip to Novovoronezh. “This means that in the coming years we will begin preparation, survey work, and project activities. The city will draw up its production agenda for about 100 years,” he said. He added that at present, in addition to operating the NPP, staff at the station are also engaged in personnel training. "Hundreds of people (from) Bangladesh, Belarus, Egypt, Turkey, Hungary will undergo direct training here,” said Likhachev, adding that a branch of the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI) will support the training programme.
Novovoronezh NPP was the first nuclear plant in Russia to host VVER-type reactors (light water-cooled pressurised reactors) and its reactors are leading VVER prototypes. The first power unit at the site was commissioned in 1964 (VVER-210), the second in 1969 (VVER 365), the third in 1971 (VVER-440), the fourth in 1972 (VVER-440), and the fifth in 1980 (VVER-1000). Units 1&2 were shut down in 1984 and 1990 and unit 3 in 2016. Unit four was shut down for modernisation work and has since resumed operation, while unit 5 recently underwent an upgrade and is licensed to operate until 2035.
Unit 1 of the Novovoronezh II (a VVER-1200, also known as Novovoronezh 6) began commercial operation in February 2017 and unit 2 ( Novovoronezh 7) in November 2019.