Leningrad II unit reaches first criticalityNuclear NewsPower & OperationsSeptember 2, 2020, 9:27AM|Nuclear News StaffRosatom officials and plant staff celebrate in the control room at Leningrad II-2 as the unit achieves first criticality. Photo: RosatomRosenergoatom, the electric power division of Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear power corporation, announced on August 31 that Leningrad II-2 has achieved initial criticality. The unit is one of two Generation III+ VVER-1200 pressurized water reactors at the Leningrad nuclear plant.Leningrad II-2 is scheduled for commercial start early next year, replacing Leningrad I-2, a 925-MWe RBMK-1000 light-water–cooled graphite-moderated reactor that will permanently cease operation at the end of 2020 after 45 years of service. Fuel loading at Leningrad II-2 began in July.What they’re saying: “The minimum controllable power is the lowest capacity level that enables us to conduct a number of tests and to verify the physical parameters of the reactor core to make sure it complies with the project requirements,” said Alexander Belyaev, Leningrad II chief engineer. “Once these operations are completed and the associated calculations are submitted to Rostekhnadzor [the Russian agency responsible for drafting and implementing government policy and legal regulation in the field of technological and nuclear oversight], we will have to obtain a power start-up license and to start gradual power ramp-up.”More than 50 tests will be conducted at the unit in accordance with the physical launch schedule, Rosenergoatom said. These tests, the company added, “will help to specify the neutron-physical parameters of the nuclear reactor’s first fuel loading” and confirm that the “reactor facility’s nuclear safety systems are working in a reliable manner.”Background: The VVER-1200 is the world’s only Generation III+ design in serial construction, according to Rosatom. Leningrad II-2 will be the fourth in the series, following Novovoronezh II-1 and -2, launched in 2016 and 2019, respectively, and Leningrad II-1, launched in 2017.Earlier in August this year, Rosenergoatom announced that preparations have begun for the construction of two more VVER-1200 units at the Leningrad site.Tags:energoatomgeneration iii+initial criticalityleningradnovovoronezhrbmk-1000rosatomrostekhnadzorvver-1200Share:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Study completed on BWRX-300 deployment in PolandThe completion of a study assessing the feasibility of deploying a fleet of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s (GEH) BWRX-300 small modular reactors in Poland was announced recently by the Polish firm Synthos Green Energy (SGE). The feasibility study, which was prepared by Exelon Generation, was not made publicly available by SGE. The study covers the analysis of key aspects of SMR technology implementation, including cost issues, personnel policy, regulatory and security issues, construction models, and operational issues, according to SGE.SGE is a subsidiary of Synthos S.A., a manufacturer of synthetic rubber and one of the biggest producers of chemical raw materials in Poland. According to SGE, it views SMR technology as an opportunity for the deep decarbonization of Polish industry and the country's heating sector.Go to Article
Russia seeking customers for floating nuclear plants, report saysTechnicians loading the first reactor aboard the Akademik Lomonosov, Russia's floating nuclear power plant. Credit: Rosatom.The Bellona news site is reporting that Rosatom is marketing its floating nuclear power plants to foreign countries. The news item noted on December 14 that Russia’s Tass newswire had published the information, citing government statements. Rosatom is Russia’s state nuclear corporation.“Rosatom has made proposals for the installation of floating units to a number of foreign countries,” Yury Trutnev, a deputy prime minister and presidential representative to Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District, said earlier this month, according to Tass. “It’s clear that one unit is not enough for us to sell such modules. Their future replication would open a possibility for Russia to open a market niche where there currently is no one.”Go to Article
New unit delivers first electricity to Russian gridRosenergoatom, the electric power division of Russia’s state-owned nuclear power corporation Rosatom, announced on October 23 that Leningrad II-2 has been connected to the grid. The unit is one of two Generation III+ VVER-1200 pressurized water reactors at the Leningrad nuclear plant.The reactor will replace Leningrad I-2, a 925-MWe RBMK-1000 light-water–cooled graphite-moderated reactor that will permanently cease operation at the end of 2020 after 45 years of service. Fuel loading at Leningrad II-2 began in July, and initial criticality was achieved in August. Following the trial operation, the unit will be shut down for an additional equipment inspection by a state commission before being put into commercial operation early next year, according to Rosenergoatom.Go to Article
Russia retires reactor at Leningrad plantThe Leningrad nuclear power plant’s Unit I-2, a 925-MWe RBMK-1000 light-water–cooled graphite-moderated reactor, was permanently shut down on November 10, according to Rosatom, Russia’s state atomic energy corporation. The shutdown occurred at 12:30 a.m. Moscow time.The unit was the oldest operating reactor at the plant, having achieved initial criticality in May 1975 and entered commercial operation in February 1976. Two additional RBMK-1000s remain in operation at Leningrad—Units I-3 and I-4, both of which have been in operation for about 40 years.The retired reactor is to be replaced by Unit II-2, one of two 1,085-MWe Generation III+ VVER-1200 pressurized water reactors at the Leningrad site. The new unit was connected to the Russian grid in October, and on November 6 it received regulatory approval to begin pilot operation. (Leningrad’s other VVER-1200, Unit II-1, started commercial operation in 2018.) Following the trial operation, Unit II-2 will be shut down for an additional equipment inspection by a state commission before being put into commercial operation early next year, according to Rosenergoatom, Rosatom’s electric power division.Go to Article
GE Hitachi SMR reaches U.S. licensing milestoneA cutaway view of the BWRX-300. Image: GE Hitachi NuclearThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a final safety evaluation report for the first of several licensing topical reports (LTR) submitted by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) for the BWRX-300 small modular reactor, the company announced on December 1.The initial LTR, titled “BWRX-300 Reactor Pressure Vessel Isolation and Overpressure Protection,” was submitted to the NRC in December 2019, officially beginning the U.S. licensing process. This LTR forms the basis for the “dramatic simplification” of the BWRX-300, according to GEH.In its announcement, GEH noted that two additional LTRs were submitted in early 2020 and that it anticipates reviews of those reports to be completed in the coming months. A fourth LTR was submitted in September 2020, the company added.Go to Article
First Hualong One reactor connected to gridChina’s Fuqing nuclear plant. Photo: CNNCUnit 5 at China National Nuclear Corporation’s (CNNC) Fuqing nuclear plant in southeastern China’s Fujian Province has become the world’s first Hualong One reactor to be connected to the power grid, the company announced on November 27. “It was confirmed on-site that all technical indicators of the unit met the design requirements and that the unit was in good condition,” CNNC said.Fuel loading at Fuqing-5 began on September 4, following the issuance of the reactor’s operating license by China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment. The loading of 177 sets of fuel assemblies was completed on September 10, and initial criticality was achieved on October 21. The unit is scheduled to enter commercial operation before the end of the year.Also known as the HPR1000, the Hualong One is a Chinese-designed and -developed 1,000-MWe Generation III pressurized water reactor, incorporating design elements of CNNC’s ACP1000 and China General Nuclear’s ACPR1000+ reactors. Fuqing-5’s twin HPR1000, Fuqing-6, is scheduled to start contributing power to the grid next year.Go to Article
Newly connected Belarusian reactor powers downOn November 8, less than a week after becoming Belarus’s first nuclear reactor to be connected to the power grid, and only one day after a visit to the Belarusian site from the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, to celebrate the accomplishment, Belarusian-1 was forced to cease power production, a report from the Associated Press states.Go to Article
First RPV for Turkish nuclear plant arrivesThe Unit 1 reactor pressure vessel arrives at the Akkuyu site. Photo: Akkuyu Nuclear JSCRussian company Atommash has delivered the reactor pressure vessel for Unit 1 of the Akkuyu plant, the nuclear power facility under construction in Turkey, Akkuyu Nuclear JSC announced recently.Atommash is a branch of AEM Technologies, which is part of Atomenergomash, the equipment-building division of Rosatom, Russia’s state atomic energy corporation. Akkuyu Nuclear, based in Ankara, was established to implement the Russian-Turkish project.It took some three years to manufacture the 330-metric ton, 12-meter-long reactor pressure vessel and 20 days to transport it from the Atommash plant in Volgodonsk, Russia, to the eastern cargo terminal at the Akkuyu plant site, according to Akkuyu Nuclear.Go to Article
Belarus’s first nuclear reactor connects to gridThe Belarusian nuclear power plant. Photo: RosatomBelarus on November 3 became the latest nation to begin generating electricity with nuclear energy when Unit 1 of the Belarusian nuclear plant was connected to the country’s power grid.The Belarusian construction project, located in the Grodno region of Belarus, features twin 1,109-MWe pressurized water reactors, supplied by Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation. The units are VVER-1200 Generation III+ designs, model AES 2006. Just last week, a VVER-1200 was connected to the Russian grid at the Leningrad plant.The start-up program for Unit 1 began on August 7, when the first fuel assembly with fresh nuclear fuel was loaded into the reactor, according to a Rosatom press release. The reactor achieved first criticality on October 11.Once fully completed, the plant is expected to supply approximately 18 billion kWh of low-carbon electricity to the Belarus national grid every year, Rosatom said.Go to Article
TVEL develops new fuel for Hungarian reactorsTVEL Fuel Company, a division of Russian atomic energy corporation Rosatom, has completed a project to develop and validate a new nuclear fuel modification for the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary, the company announced on October 13.According to TVEL, the full package of modification documents has been handed over to MVM Paks Ltd., the plant’s operator, for further licensing of the new fuel by Hungary’s national nuclear power regulator. TVEL added that the project’s first fuel assemblies passed acceptance testing at the company’s Elemash Machine-Building plant, a fuel fabrication facility in Elektrostal, near Moscow.The first consignment of the modified fuel is scheduled for delivery to Paks later this year. The contract between TVEL and MVM Paks for development of the new fuel was signed in late 2017.Go to Article