Novovoronezh nuclear power plant II (NNPPII) is being built at the site of the existing Novovoronezh nuclear plant located in Voronezh Oblast, central Russia.
The project is being carried out as part of the Russian Government's long term federal target programme (FTP) that entails making nuclear electricity account for 25% to 30% of the country's total electricity supply by 2030, then 45% to 50% by 2050 and 70% to 80% by end of the current century. The current share of nuclear electricity in the total electricity supply in Russia is 16%.
Novovoronezh II is planned to have four generating units with VVER-1200 reactors. Two reactors are being constructed as part of phase 1 of the new plant. The two units are scheduled to be commissioned in 2014-2015. The other two units are still in the design stage.
Novovoronezh is one of the ten nuclear power plants being operated by the state-owned utility Rosenergoatom in Russia. With 33 reactors and a total installed capacity of 25.2GW, Rosenergoatom is the second largest utility in the world in nuclear electricity generation.
Novovoronezh is the first Russian NPP to have VVER reactors. It has seen the commissioning of five VVER reactors in its history. Its first unit was equipped with VVER-210 and commissioned in 1964. The second, third, fourth and fifth units were equipped with VVER-365, VVER-440, VVER-440 and VVER-1000, and were commissioned in 1969, 1971, 1972 and 1980 respectively.
At present, the plant is operating with only three reactors, as the first and second units were permanently decommissioned in 1988 and 1990.
The Novovoronezh plant supplies power to Voronezh Oblast, Belgorod, Lipetsk, and Tambov regions.
Unit 5 of the plant has recently undergone a $453m upgrade. It has advanced features similar to those of a generation III reactor, and will operate until 2035.
Units 3 and 4 of the plant are scheduled for decommissioning in 2016 and 2017. They will be replaced by the two new units under construction in the first phase of NNPP II.
Construction of the first unit of the new plant started in 2008. Construction of the second unit began in 2009.
The foundation plates for both the units of Novovoronezh II were complete by the end of 2009. Each plate required approximately 17,000t of concrete and 2,500t of reinforcement steel.
The concreting of the foundations for the cooling towers of both the units was completed by October 2012.
Installation of circulation pumps at Unit 1 started in August 2012. The steam generator for Unit 1 of the new plant was installed in September 2012, with installation of the reactor building dome had also started by November the following year.
Installation of other key equipments at Unit 1 is scheduled for completion by the end of 2012.
The new nuclear power plant will be equipped with four VVER reactors rated at 1,200MW each and four PGV-1000 steam generators along with generator sets and 12 N-caption filters.
Each steam generator has a diameter of 4.5m and height of 5.2m, and weighs around 430t. It has an estimated life of 60 years. The generator sets will be used for emergency power supply.
N-caption filter is a vessel that will operate with a pressure of 8.4MPa. It has a diameter of 2m with a height of 5m, and contains special filtering elements.
VVER-1200 has been designed to produce 1,200MWe of power with optimised fuel efficiency, with a longer lifetime of 60 years at 90% capacity factor.
VVER technology refers to a series of pressurised water reactor designs originally developed in Russia. The Russian abbreviation for VVER stands for water-cooled, water-moderated energy reactor. Distinctive features of VVER include the horizontal steam generators, hexahedral fuel assemblies and the high capacity pressurisers that provide a large reactor coolant inventory.
The reactor offers adequate emergency solutions, including emergency core cooling system, emergency backup diesel power supply, advanced refuelling machine, computerised reactor control systems, backup feedwater supply and reactor SCRAM system.
As well as seismic resistance, it has additional safety features such as containment building and missile shield.
Russia's Rosatom Atomic Power Agency is building eight 70MW FNPS (Floating Nuclear Powered Stations) to be stationed around the country.
Stroytransgaz was awarded the contract for the construction-assembly work of the new power plant.
Tognum, a German diesel and gas manufacturer will supply MTU onsite energy emergency gensets worth $37m under a sub-contract with Zvezda Energetika.
Glazovsky zavod Khimmash, a part of OMZ Group, supplied 12 N-caption filters for the power plant under a sub-contract signed on July 2009.
OKB GIDROPRESS designed the VVER reactors for the power plant.
ZIO-Podolsk, a machine building plant, is responsible for the engineering and technical assistance of the steam generators. It transported the first generator to the plant site in February 2012.
ZIOMAR, an engineering company, has developed the detailed drawing and packaging of the generators.
Power Machine will design, manufacture and supply the turbine units including the steam turbines, capacitors and turbine generator sets.
AREVA will provide safety instrumentation and control systems for the four nuclear reactors at Novovoronezh II as part of a contract signed in 2009.
The Russian power industry, especially the nuclear sector, has witnessed massive state investment recently.
The Federal Grid Company (RAO FGC), which owns Russia's 118,000km high-voltage transmission grid, is investing $14.5bn during 2010-ཉ to modernise its grid infrastructure to efficiently handle the anticipated future increase in power production.
In July 2012, the Russian Energy Ministry published a draft plan to add 83GWe of new capacity with a total investment of RUR8,230bn ($266.3bn), considering the increasing domestic demand and the export potential. The nuclear component of the new capacity will account for 10GWe with an investment of RUR1,320bn ($47.2bn).
Russia produced 170.1 billion kWh of nuclear power in 2010, which was 16.6% of the country's total electricity supply.
Russia had formally initiated a $55bn nuclear energy development programme in October 2006. It includes $26bn of allocation from the federal budget until 2015 and the rest from the industry (Rosatom) funds.
The Federal Target Programme (FTP) approved in 2010 aims at accelerating nuclear power production with the use of fast reactors, as well as promoting export of nuclear power technology.
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