Leningrad NPP: history. Power of Leningrad NPP

Uninterrupted power supply for all settlements is one of the most important priorities of public administration. In this regard, throughout the territory of the Russian Federation, various stations that generate electricity are systematically constructed. One of these is the Leningrad NPP. The history of its creation and development will be discussed in this article.

Excursion to the past

The idea of building a power plant arose in the mid-1960s. April 15, 1966 was approved by the resolution, which obliged to create a project on the basis of which his life on paper began Leningrad NPP. Within five months All the required The documentation was ready.

And in November the Council of Ministers of the USSR decided to begin construction of the first stage of the station and determined the entire organizational structure and work of third-party enterprises to implement the plan in practice.

Laying the foundation

The construction of the station began with the digging of the pit. The first bucket of soil was raised on July 6, 1976. Thus, the Leningrad NPP, we can say, began its "life". Leading specialists in welding, erection of metal structures, builders and other engineering workers were involved in the work.

Launch of the first and second power units

On December 23, 1973, the special State Commission carried out the acceptance of the first power unit. As a result, the Leningrad NPP was able to begin its full-fledged work. In 1975, the second unit was commissioned, and the second stage of the industrial facility was launched. These operations started on May 10, 1975. The construction of new facilities was set aside twice as short as the first stage.

During the design of this complex, previous mistakes were taken into account, new scientific developments were introduced, assembling of structures was increased, which eventually led to the formation of a new layout of power units of nuclear power plants in the Leningrad Region. Also, the composition of systems and structures was changed.

Features of construction of a new complex

Due to the clear interaction of various services and organizations, the quality of installation operations was improved. New pipelines were supplied to the site, and the welding required less time. Hoisting cranes have also undergone a reconstruction. Changed the design of the tent-pans, due to which it became possible at the stage of assembling the reactor to mount parallel to each other and other parts that had been shipped in bulk, because of which expensive computer time was spent, and the whole technological process was delayed.

Third power unit

The start of the construction of this complex dates back to the first of February 1977. It is worth noting that the frame of the building was mounted in record time and was completed very quickly. The speed of construction was 1560 tons per month. This figure is simply colossal even in our time.

Excellent results were also noted during the connection of the main reactor systems. In particular, technological channels and tracts of building were erected in just 78 days. For comparison: on the first block this indicator was 169 days, and on the second - 118.

As a result, the Leningrad NPP, the photo of which is given in this article, received the third block for two and a half years faster.

The fourth power unit

Looking ahead, we note that the terms of its construction were the most minimal in comparison with the previous "brethren".

The first months of 1980 were spent on enlarging the designs of the reactor of the 4th unit on special installation sites. At the same time, there was an active preparation of the transport scheme for supplying the products received directly to the reactor shaft. For this purpose, a loading dock was used with two cranes mounted on it. The carrying capacity of each of them was about 300 tons.

The deadlines for the installers were only eight months. This was extremely small, since earlier such work took up to 29 months.

Without going into details of carrying out all the works, we will say that the reactor of the fourth block was built in five and a half months. This allowed on December 26, 1980 to make a physical launch of the unit, and in February 1981 to put it under the required load.

Technical parameters of the station

The total capacity of nuclear power plants in the Leningrad Region is calculated quite easily: each of the four power units produces 1000 MW of energy. In addition, we also indicate the projected annual production of electrical energy. It is equal to 28 billion kWh. To maintain normal operation, 8 to 8.5% of own electricity is spent.

Station Opportunities

The capacity of the nuclear power plant of the Leningrad Region allows to allocate half of the energy that is necessary for the normal vital activity of the region. If to speak with concrete figures, then the nuclear facility at the beginning of 2012 produced all its power units about 846 billion kWh of electric power.

Modernization

In August 2007, work was begun to improve the separators-superheaters. Also, two special valves were replaced on the pressure line of the circulation pumps located in the reactor hall. At the end of these operations on October 1, 2007, the bloc began its full-fledged work again.

The third power unit also underwent some technical changes in 2007. It paid close attention to the emergency cooling of the reactor, replaced the technological channels, which eventually allowed to extend the life of the facility for twenty years.

Emergency incidents

Absolutely any accident at the Leningrad NPP is extremely dangerous, as it can lead to irreversible consequences and casualties among the personnel and residents of the region. Unfortunately, such events took place, and they should be remembered separately.

So, for example, in January 1974 there was a detonation of hydrogen in the gas station of the station. Already literally a month later the water boiled, which led to the emergence of extremely dangerous water hammers that destroyed the intermediate circuit of the first block. As a result - three dead, as well as a leak of highly active, very harmful water.

On the last day of November 1975, a fuel channel collapsed (more precisely, melted). This incident led to the release of one and a half million Ki (a mixture of radioactive substances). Many experts still consider this accident as the precursor of the Chernobyl disaster.

March 1992 - another destruction of the fuel channel, but already in the third power unit. Based on the international scale of nuclear events, this incident was assigned a score of 2.

In January 1996, a leak was discovered from the storage facility of SNF No. 428. It was partially eliminated.

On May 20, 2004, the fourth power unit was stopped due to the release of radioactive vapor. This abnormal situation occurred due to accidental pressing of the emergency button in the operating room. Fortunately, none of the people were hurt. A cloud of steam for two hours moved towards the settlement of Koporye.

On December 18, 2015, at about 14.00, the integrity of the deaerator tube in the turbine shop was disrupted. The steam penetrated into the technical rooms. Some employees were released home. The reactor of the second unit was stopped. No one was injured, no destruction. However, as experts assured, the situation was saved by the fact that the wind blew towards the Gulf of Finland that day.

It is interesting

Leningrad NPP, whose address can now be found without any problems in various sources of information, is located: Russia, Leningrad Region, Sosnovy Bor. After the commissioning of the 4th unit in 1981, this facility occupied the third position in capacity, only slightly behind the station of Bouguer in France and the Japanese Fukushima-1.

Leningrad NPP, Sosnovy Bor for which it is a basing site, since 2002 belongs to the open joint-stock company "Russian concern for the production of electric and thermal energy at nuclear power plants" Rosenergoatom ". The type of reactors installed at the station is water graphite channels with thermal neutrons.