Kalinin's first unit gets 19-year life extension

Monday, 30 June 2025

It follows a safety review and an inspection earlier this year which confirmed the unit's equipment complies with all modern standards and requirements, Rosatom said.

The regulator checked the results of work already carried out to modernise, and where necessary replace, equipment and the on-going work plan, to ensure the unit can operate safely for longer.

Viktor Ignatov, Director of the Kalinin nuclear power plant, said: "The reliable operation of Kalinin NPP makes an important contribution to ensuring the energy security of central Russia and significantly influences the socio-economic development of the region and the living standards of the population."

The Kalinin plant is just over 200 miles north-west of Moscow, in the Tver region of Russia and consists of four units. Units 1 and 2 are V-338 model VVER-1000s which began commercial operation in 1985 and 1987, respectively. Kalinin 3 and 4 are both 950 MWe V-320 model VVER-1000 reactors, which were completed in 2004 and 2012.

Kalinin I was granted a 10-year extension in 2014 to 2025 following an initial modernisation programme. Among the necessary modernisation measures for the longer extension period has been the construction over the past year of a new full-scale control room simulator building for Kalinin I - it used to share a simulator with the second unit, but the modernisation programme means it now needs it own training facility.