Preparations are currently underway to build four new additional nuclear power reactors in the Leningrad and Smolensk regions of Russia, the state atomic energy corporation Rosatom has announced. Its subsidiary, Rosenergoatom, will be both the developer and technical coordinator of the projects. According to an official statement, the new Smolensk 2 and Leningrad 2 units are included in the general plan for provision of electric power facilities until 2035.
Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachov said in a statement that the new reactors type VVER-1200 at Leningrad 2 are being built not only in Russia, but also abroad. “The Russian nuclear power industry has approached this stage with newly developed types of NPPs (nuclear power plants) – the VVER-1200 and VVER-TOI. These projects are being successfully implemented in Russia, and VVER-1200 is also being implemented abroad. They were designed according to the latest achievements and developments that meet all current international safety requirements”, Likhachov said.
According to the Rosenergoatom Director General Andrei Petrov, the new Smolensk 2 plant, featuring two VVER-TOI (typical optimised, with enhanced information) reactors with a total capacity of 2,510 MW, will be built around 6 km from the existing Smolensk plant.
“The new power units will replace the units with RBMK-1000 reactors, whose service life will end in the next decade. According to preliminary estimates, their construction will create up to 15 thousand new jobs, provide regular tax revenues to regional and local budgets,” Petrov said in a statement. Temporary household construction camps and an industrial base are planned to be built.
The statement said that by the end of this year, a preliminary work implementation project will be carried out at the construction site of proposed VVER-1200 reactors for the new power units 3 and 4 of the Leningrad NPP-II. “Over the 2020-2022 period, public hearings will be held regarding license justification and an assessment of the environmental impact of units 3 and 4. Construction project evaluation has to be carried out by 2022,” it added.
