Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant
F1
Active reactors ( gross ):
The nuclear power plant Leningrad (Russian Ленинградская АЭС [ listen? / I] ) is a Russian nuclear power plant. It is located 70 km west of Saint Petersburg on a bay of the Gulf of Finland. The power plant is also known by the name of the working city Sosnovy Bor. In the immediate vicinity of the Leningrad nuclear power plant, the power plant succession Leningrad II is built. On the premises is also the discarded nuclear plant Sosnovy Bor
History
The nuclear power plant consists of four RBMK with a capacity of 1,000 MW, with the first two blocks of the first generation and the third and fourth block of the second generation of RBMK reactors correspond. RBMK of the first generation of the world are considered to be the most dangerous reactors. The first two reactors were connected to the grid in 1973 and 1975 and after almost a year trial operation in each subsequent year in production use. The third and fourth reactor in 1979 and 1981 connected to the grid and went after every half a year into production. With block 1, the first ever built reactor RBMK -1000 was used. It was planned from the plant in 1967. The first reactor was started up in 1973 in the trial run, the last in 1981 connected to the network. The owner and operator of the nuclear power plant is the state enterprise RosEnergoAtom. According to the authorities responsible for the nuclear power plant authority Rosatom nuclear power plant is designed to produce approximately 28 billion kilowatt -hours of electricity in 2004 it produced, according to Rosatom 24.279 billion kilowatt-hours. 28 % of the electricity generated will be supplied to the area of Saint Petersburg and cover 50% of their electricity needs. 25 % of the electricity generated will be exported to Finland.
2003 were carried out at the reactor 1 of the nuclear power plant upgrade work. The Russian Atomic Energy Agency extended the approval of the reactors 1 and 2 by 10 to 15 more years. The upgrade of Block 3 of the power plant on MKER technique was completed after one year of operation stop on May 12, 2008. Thus, the operating time of the block is extended by another 20 years.
Environmental damage
According to Russian environmentalists of the organization Green World have pine trees in a radius of five kilometers from Sosnovy Bor three times more frequent cell replacements more than 30 kilometers away standing. This is a clear sign of poor environmental conditions. Also a long-term study of the Institute of Agricultural Radiology and Agroecology has demonstrated damage to the pine trees to Sosnovy Bor. There are also great damage by the warm waste water which is pumped into the Koporskaja Bay in the Gulf of Finland. The warm water provides an excellent basis for blue-green algae, several million fish die each year in the weirs, what the food chain and the whole ecosystem of the Gulf of Finland severely damaged. In addition, the load coming through rotting wood chips that are mixed with the cooling water to seal leaks in the heat exchanger.
Incidents and hazards
Already in the first year of operation on February 6, 1974, the first accident occurred. In block 1, the heat exchanger broke because of simmering water. Radioactive water from the primary circuit has been released along with highly radioactive filter sludge into the environment. Three people died. (INES: 4-5 )
Soon after, the next accident occurred in October 1974 in Block 1 of the power plant. Several fuel melted and the reactor core was partially destroyed; However, the moderator graphite blocks began no fire. The fire danger has been trying to meet as the Windscale fire, by an emergency reserve nitrogen pumped through the reactor core and then was blown off of gaseous fission products through the exhaust air chimney along with the leaked from the damaged fuel elements 1.5 Mega Curie ( 55 PBq ). (INES: 4-5 )
This accumulation of accidents in the early phase of operation is returned in the art to the pressure of the political leadership to take some flagship nuclear power plants without regard to the not so complete the scheduled completion date in operation. From technically related Unit 1 of the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania, also a prestige project of the former Soviet Union, for example, has become in the accession negotiations of Lithuania to the EU on record known that it was put into operation, although only a part of the safety equipment was operational.
1992 broke a fuel tube in the third block of the nuclear power plant, Leningrad. The resulting radioactive cloud drove first to Finland, then back and to Central Russia. Ever since this incident, it is assumed that the pine forest is contaminated by the nuclear power plant.
On December 15, 2005 morning at 3:00 clock exploded one of the smelting furnaces of an erected under questionable circumstances on the power plant site in metallurgy, are recycled in the slightly radioactive metal waste from the nuclear power plant. Radioactivity was not released outside the facility site, but at least three workers were injured by the metal ejection, of which at least one died of his injuries. The reason for the accident violations were reported to the accident prevention regulations. The branches of the Norwegian environmental organization Bellona, Greenpeace in Saint Petersburg for years have been drawing attention to the danger that creates a virtually built without approval procedures smelter in the immediate vicinity of a nuclear power plant. The reactor was 2 at the time of the accident already shut down almost half a year due to major repairs.
On 15 August 2006, the first reactor block was automatically removed from the network due to a short circuit and shut down.
On October 28, 2006 due to distinctive weather led to an automatic shutdown of the second block. This was due to a short circuit at 6:58 clock on the turbogenerator number 4 in the 330 kV network. At 7:15 clock it came to a stop the turbo-generator number 3 Therefore, the whole block 2 had to be switched off.
After the completion of the upgrade of Block 3 on May 12, it came on 15 May 2008 for automatic shutdown after a failure in the system. The reactor is to be approached again after fault clearance. In the news a hoax was spread, after which the block 3 of the power plant had exploded. This was based on information from hackers, the manipulations were made to the Rosatom homepage. The hackers wrote a press release in which it said that the block 3 of the power plant had exploded and that the environment would be prepared for an evacuation. On May 20, came because of this hoax many reporters to the power plant. The norm of 0.13 mSv / h is not exceeded. Shortly after the hoax of the media, a press release was issued that it was a hoax by the disaster. Those responsible have been identified and arrested, as they had displaced the St. Petersburg area in panic.
The power plant with similar technology as in Chernobyl is especially popular in Finland for some concern ( see for example the incident of 1992). In about 200 km away is Finnish territory. Had the Chernobyl cloud escaped here, drifted in part by West-/Nordwesten and partly over this area be raining ( washout ), the contamination would have been approximately the same as in 1986 was strongly affected Belarusian region north of Gomel.
Leningrad II
The nuclear power plant Leningrad II to replace the old power plant. In May 2006, the head of the Russian atomic energy agency Rosatom submitted plans for a new building with six reactor units. These are on the one hand no later than 2019 to replace the current four blocks, on the other hand can withstand the growing energy needs of the area Saint Petersburg. Planned are six VVER - 1160. Each block will have a capacity of 1160 MW. Construction began on 30 August 2007. The VVER -1160 will be the first of its kind and it will probably follow a series. The VVER -1160 is based on experience during the construction of reactors in Kudankulam and Tianwan. The tender for the construction of the new power plant on February 28, has won Atomstroiexport. The cost will amount to 136.8 billion rubles. The commissioning of the first block is to take place in 2013, according to Rosatom.
Data of the reactor units
The Leningrad nuclear power plant has four units: