| Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) Nuclear Power Plant II | |
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Site of the Nuclear Power Plant Leningrad, including the construction site of the Nuclear Power Plant Leningrad II; photo taken from an airplane. |
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| Country | Russia |
| Location | Sosnovyi Bor, Leningrad Oblast |
| Coordinates | |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | 1 March 1970 |
| Commission date | 1 November 1974 |
| Decommission date | 2018 (planned) |
| Owner(s) | Rosenergoatom |
| Reactor information | |
| Reactors operational | 4 x 1,000 MW |
| Reactor type(s) | RBMK-1000 |
| Reactor supplier(s) | Atomstroyexport |
| Power generation information | |
| Installed capacity | 4,000 MW |
| Annual generation | 21,208 GWh |
| Net generation | 655,180 GWh |
| As of 7 November 2010 | |
Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) Nuclear Power Plant (Russian: Ленинградская атомная электростанция; Ленинградская АЭС ()) is a nuclear power plant located in the town of Sosnovy Bor in Russia's Leningrad Oblast, on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, some 70 kilometres (43 mi) to the west of the city centre of Saint Petersburg. It consists of four nuclear reactors of RBMK-1000 type. These reactors are similar to reactors No. 1 and 2 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Two units of VVER-1200 type are under construction at Power Plant II to replace the current RBMK reactors when they reach the end of their service life.
On 25 October 2008, Saint Petersburg Atomenergoproekt began concreting the foundation plate of the reactor building of Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant II Unit 1. Cost of the project is estimated at almost 70 billion Russian ruble (RUR).[1][2] A construction license was issued on 22 July 2009.[3]
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The plant has agreed to report on all incidents that threat the safety of the environment to neighboring Finnish authorities. When asked to report on other incidents as well the plant answered negatively, stating that they have so many daily incidents that their whole time would be wasted in filling incident reports.[4]
In 1975, there was reportedly a partial nuclear meltdown in Leningrad reactor Unit 1 that released 1.5 MCi into the environment.[5]
In March 1992, an accident at the Sosnovy Bor nuclear plant leaked radioactive gases and iodine into the air through a ruptured fuel channel. This was the first accident at the station that was announced in the news media.[6]
In December 2005, a private company reprocessing scrap metal at the facility was operating a non-nuclear smelter, which overheated and exploded spraying molten metal across a large area and starting several fires. Three workers were burned in the explosion, with two experiencing burns over 90 percent of their bodies.[7]
On August 27, 2009, the third unit was stopped when a hole was found in the discharge header of a pump.[8] According to the automated radiation control system, the radiation situation at the plant and in its 30-kilometre (19 mi) monitoring zone was normal.[8] The plant's management refuted rumors of an accident and stated that the third Unit was stopped for a "short-term unscheduled maintenance", with a restart scheduled for August 31 2009.[9] The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter published a short notice on the 29th of August claiming a coolant leak at the plant. The problem is described as serious but without any immediate risk of radiation in the surrounding environment. The article refers to a statement by Säteilyturvakeskus, the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority.
| Unit[10] | Reactor type | Net capacity in MW |
Gross capacity in MW |
Construction started |
Electricity grid |
Commercial operation |
Shutdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leningrad - 1 | RBMK-1000 | 925 | 1,000 | 1970/03/01 | 1973/12/21 | 1974/11/01 | 2018 planned |
| Leningrad - 2 | RBMK-1000 | 925 | 1,000 | 1970/06/01 | 1975/07/11 | 1976/02/11 | 2020 planned |
| Leningrad - 3 | RBMK-1000 | 925 | 1,000 | 1973/12/01 | 1979/12/07 | 1980/06/29 | - |
| Leningrad - 4 | RBMK-1000 | 925 | 1,000 | 1975/02/01 | 1981/02/09 | 1981/08/29 | - |
| Leningrad II - 1 | VVER-1200/491 (AES-2006) | 1,085 | 1,170 | 2008/06/24 | - | (2013 - Planned) | - |
| Leningrad II - 2 | VVER-1200/491 (AES-2006) | 1,085 | 1,170 | 2010/04/15[11] | - | (2014) | - |
| Leningrad II - 3 | VVER-1200/491 (AES-2006) | 1,085 | 1,170 | (Planned)[12] | - | - | - |
| Leningrad II - 4 | VVER-1200/491 (AES-2006) | 1,085 | 1,170 | (Planned)[13] | - | - | - |
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