Construction starts on second Leningrad II unit

19 April 2010

The first concrete has been poured for the foundation plate of the second unit at phase two of the Leningrad nuclear power plant (Leningrad II). In addition, first concrete has also been poured for the foundation plate of the unit's turbine building.

  

Concrete begins to flow at unit two of Leningrad II (Image: Rosatom)

 

St Petersburg-based AtomEnergoProekt (SPb AEP), which is acting as the principal contractor, announced on 15 April that it had begun pouring concrete for the foundation of the second unit at the Leningrad II plant. The company said that, in total, some 5000 cubic metres of concrete will be used in the reactor's foundation plate. The pouring of concrete for the first unit at Leningrad II took some eight months to complete.

 

First concrete was also poured on the same day for the first of six sections of the foundation plate for the turbine building of the second units at Leningrad II. Construction is being conducted by Titanstroymontazh, a subsidiary of Titan-2. Some 1850 cubic metres of concrete and over 700 tonnes of reinforcement iron will be used in the first section of the foundation, which is 925 square metres in area. In total, some 3000 tonnes of iron and more than 12,000 tonnes of concrete will be needed to complete all six sections. The concreting of the turbine building for the first unit at Leningrad II took five months to complete.

 

A construction licence was issued in July 2009 to plant owner Energoatom for the second unit at Leningrad II by Russian nuclear regulator Rostekhnadzor. The construction licence for the first reactor of Leningrad II was issued in June 2008. The first two units will be of the new AES-2006 model VVER pressurised water reactor (PWR) design. The first of the 1170 MWe reactors is scheduled for commissioning in October 2013 and the second in 2016. These AES-2006 units are expected to be built at a cost of some $3.0-3.7 billion per pair. Leningrad II would eventually boast four AES-2006 reactors.

 

The Leningrad plant is currently home to four operating 1000 MWe RBMK reactors, all of which are nearing the end of their operating lives. A construction contract for Leningrad II was signed with SPb AEP in August 2007 and site licences granted the following month. AtomEnergoProekt signed a 136 billion rouble ($5.8 billion) state contract in March 2008 for the construction of first two new units at Leningrad II. In addition to supplying electricity, each of the new reactors will provide 1.05 TJ/hr (9.17 PJ/yr) of district heating.

 

AtomEnergoProekt began pouring the concrete for the foundation plate of the reactor building of the first new unit at the Leningrad II plant in October 2008. That foundation plate was completed in June 2009.

 

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

 

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