Hydraulic tests of the VVER-1000/V-320 reactor have started and, once completed, permission will be sought from regulator Rostekhnadzor to bring the unit to the minimum controlled power level, Oleg Vysotsky, head of the reactor department of Rostov Nuclear Power Plant Phase 2, said in the company statement.
Start-up of the unit and its connection the grid are planned for next year, Rosatom said, without elaborating.
The Rostov plant is located on the banks of the Tsimlyansk reservoir, nearly 14 km (8 miles) from the city of Volgodonsk. Four 1000 MWe VVER pressurized water reactors have been planned at the Rostov site since the early 1980s. Construction of units 1 and 2 began promptly, but progress faltered. Units 1 and 2 eventually entered commercial operation in March 2001 and October 2010, respectively. Unit 3 was connected to the grid in December 2014, while the reactor pressure vessel was installed at unit 4 in December 2015.
The start-up of another new Russian unit – a VVER-1200 reactor – is also scheduled for next year. The process of loading 163 fuel assemblies into the core of unit 1 of the Leningrad Phase II nuclear power plant in western Russia began on 8 December.
Source: World Nuclear News
