Uninterrupted power supply of all settlements is one of the most important priorities of public administration. In this regard, various stations that generate electricity are systematically built throughout the Russian Federation. One of these is the Leningrad NPP. The history of its creation and development will be discussed in this article.
Excursion into the past
The idea of building a power plant arose in the mid-1960s. On April 15, 1966, a resolution was approved that obliged to create a project, on the basis of which the Leningrad NPP began its life on paper. Five months later all required The documentation was ready.
And already 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.
Foundation laying
The construction of the station began with digging a pit. The first soil bucket was raised on July 6, 1976. Thus, the Leningrad NPP, one might say, began its “life”. To carry out the work, leading specialists in welding, installation of metal structures, builders and other engineering workers were involved.
Launch of the first and second power units
On December 23, 1973, a special State Commission accepted the first energy block. As a result of this, the Leningrad NPP was able to begin its full-fledged work. In 1975, the second unit was launched, and installation of the second stage of the industrial facility was also begun. These operations started on May 10, 1975. Two times less time was allocated for the construction of new facilities than in the first place.
During the design of this complex, previous errors were taken into account, new scientific developments were introduced, the assembly of structures was increased, which ultimately led to the formation of a new layout of nuclear units in the Leningrad Region. The composition of systems and structures was also changed.
Features of the construction of a new complex
Thanks to the clear interaction of various services and organizations, the quality of installation operations was improved. New pipelines were delivered to the site, the welding of which required less time. Cranes also underwent reconstruction. The design of the greenhouse tents was also changed, due to which it was possible, even at the stage of assembly of the reactor, to install in parallel with each other other parts that were previously shipped in bulk, which cost expensive machine time, and the whole process was delayed.
Third power unit
The start of construction of this complex dates back to the first of February 1977. It is worth noting that the building frame 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 noted in the process of connecting the main systems of the reactor. In particular, technological channels and extension paths were erected in just 78 days. For comparison: in the first block, this indicator was 169 days, and in the second - 118.
As a result, the Leningrad NPP, the photo of which is given in this article, received the third unit two and a half years faster.
Fourth power unit
Looking ahead, we note that the terms of its construction were the most minimal in comparison with the previous "brothers".
The first months of 1980 were spent on enlarging the reactor structures of 4 units at special installation sites. At the same time, active preparations were underway for a transport scheme for feeding the obtained products directly to the reactor shaft. For this, a loading ramp was used with two beam cranes installed 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 before such a job took up to 29 months.
Without going into details of all the work, let’s say that the fourth unit reactor was built in five and a half months. This allowed December 26, 1980 to physically launch the unit, and in February 1981 put it under the required load.
Station performance
The total capacity of NPPs in the Leningrad Region is calculated quite easily: each of the four power units produces 1,000 MW of energy. In addition, we indicate the annual design and production of electrical energy. It is equal to 28 billion kW⋅h. From 8 to 8.5% of its own electricity is spent on maintaining normal performance.
Station features
The capacity of nuclear power plants in the Leningrad Region allows half the amount of energy that is necessary for the normal functioning of the region to be supplied to the electric grid. Speaking in concrete numbers, at the beginning of 2012, a nuclear facility produced about 846 billion kWh of electrical energy with all its power units.
Modernization
In August 2007, work began on the improvement of superheater separators. Two special valves on the pressure line of the circulation pumps located in the reactor shop were also replaced. At the end of these operations on October 1, 2007, the block began its full-fledged work again.
The third power unit also underwent some technical changes in 2007. It paid close attention to emergency cooling of the reactor, replaced the technological channels, which ultimately allowed to extend the life of the facility by twenty years.
Emergency situations
Absolutely any accident at the Leningrad NPP is extremely dangerous, since it can lead to irreversible consequences and casualties among personnel and residents of the region. Unfortunately, such events took place, and they should be remembered separately.
So, for example, in January 1974, hydrogen detonated in the station’s gas tank. Literally a month later, water began to boil, which led to the emergence of extremely dangerous hydraulic shocks that destroyed the intermediate circuit of the first block. As a result - three dead, as well as the leak of highly active, very harmful water.
On the last day of November 1975, the fuel channel collapsed (more precisely, melted). This incident resulted in the release of one and a half million Ci (a mixture of radioactive substances). Many experts still consider this accident the forerunner of the Chernobyl disaster.
March 1992 - another destruction of the fuel channel, but already in the third power unit. Based on the international nuclear event scale, this incident was rated 2.
In January 1996, a leak was discovered from SNF repository No. 428. It was partially eliminated.
On May 20, 2004, the fourth power unit was shut down due to the release of radioactive vapor. This abnormal situation occurred due to the accidental pressing of the emergency button in the operating room. Fortunately, no one was hurt. The vapor cloud for two hours moved in the direction of the village of Koporye.
On December 18, 2015, at about 2 pm, the integrity of the pipe of the deaerator installation in the turbine workshop was violated. Steam entered technical rooms. Some employees were allowed to go home. The reactor of the second unit was stopped. No one was injured, there was no destruction. However, as experts assured, the situation was saved by the fact that the wind that day blew towards the Gulf of Finland.
It is interesting
The Leningrad NPP, the address of which can be found without problems today in various sources of information, is located: Russia, the Leningrad Region, the city of Sosnovy Bor. After the commissioning of 4 units in 1981, this facility occupied the third position in power, only slightly behind the Bouget station in France and the Japanese Fukushima-1.
Since 2002, the Leningrad NPP, Sosnovy Bor, for which it is the location, has been part of the open joint-stock company Russian Concern for the Production of Electric and Thermal Energy at Rosenergoatom Nuclear Power Plants. The type of reactors installed at the station is water-graphite channel ones with thermal neutrons.