How was the Rostov NPP (Volgodonskaya) built? Number of power units and commissioning date

Rostov Region is the location of Rostov NPP (Volgodonsk is its first name). It is located 12 km from the city of Volgodonsk, near Tsimlyansk reservoir. The first power unit issues about 1 GWh of electricity to the grid. The launch of the next power block took place in 2010. Now it smoothly goes to the planned performance.

Volgodonskaya - the name of the station in the period 2001-2010. After the launch of the second power block, its name changed to Rostov, but some call it the old way.

Composition and function

Rostov NPP (Volgodonskaya) is one of the largest energy facilities in the southern regions of the Russian Federation. It produces about 15% of the electricity of this zone. Rostov NPP (Volgodonskaya) electricity distributes 5 power lines with a voltage of 0.5 megavolts in the following directions: Southern, Budennovsk, Tikhoretsk, Shakhty and Nevinnomyssk.

The annual production of electric energy is about 8 billion kWh. Rostov NPP (Volgodonskaya) is a branch of Rosenergoatom Concern OJSC, the sole owner of which is Open Joint-Stock Company Atomenergoprom. This organization combined the money of private investors and the domestic nuclear industry. The company organizes the entire production cycle of this energy sector: extraction of raw materials, the creation of nuclear power plants and the supply of electricity.

The first power unit

When was its construction completed? Volgodonsk NPP started operation of the first power unit at the end of 2001. Its rated power is 1 GW, and the thermal power is 3 GW. It is based on the VVER-1000 reactor. It is a controlled chain nuclear reaction, in which uranium-235 is divided by the action of low-energy neutrons. The side effect of the process is the allocation of a large amount of heat. Reactor structure:

• Zone where the raw material is located.
• Neutron reflector around the core.
• The heat carrier is water.
• The system of control and control of the chain reaction.
• Protection from radiation.

Fuel in the core is represented by 163 fuel assemblies. Each of them includes 312 fuel elements.

Second power unit

The second power block continued to be built in 2002. Acceleration of the construction rate occurred in 2006. This power unit was among the most ambitious projects for investments in the southern region of the Russian Federation. Construction work carried out more than 7 thousand people.

2009 - the time of completion of the main construction operations. 19.12.2009 - the date of loading the first portion of uranium fuel into the reactor. The power unit was launched in idle mode. On March 18, 2010, at 16:17, he began to supply electricity to the unified energy system of the country. At that moment, its power was only 35% of the nominal value. Within a few months, this indicator was brought up by gradual increases to 100%.

New power units

The construction of the third power unit of the NPP was conducted from 2009 to 2014. In November, it was launched in an idle mode. In the summer of 2015, it was put into nominal capacity, and in the autumn it was included in the UES of the Russian Federation. The capacity of the power unit is planned to be used to cover the shortage of electricity supply in the Crimea.

The fourth power unit was built in 2010. What is remarkable about Volgodonsk NPP? The accident at the nuclear power plant happened on November 4, 2014: an emergency shutdown of two power units occurred. Fortunately, the radiation situation remained normal. To prevent similar incidents in the future, the construction of Unit 4 is taking into account the existing tragic world experience.

The reactor body was installed at the end of 2015. At the same time, four steam generators were fixed. In January 2016, the stator of the generator was mounted in the engine room of the energy unit being erected. The infrastructure is in full swing. When performing all the work, the safety and reliability of the power plant are put first.