A test turbine launch took place at NPU No. 6 with a VVER-1200 reactor (a water-water energetic reactor) at the Leningrad NPP (a branch of ROSATOM, part of its power division).
The experts performed a dry run of the turbine and increased the number of revolutions, in a phased approach, to the designed value of 3000 revolutions per minute. This can be compared to the speed of rotation of an aircraft propeller.
“Turbine launch is one of the key operations in preparing an NPU for power production,” – the chief engineer of Leningrad NPP-2 Aleksandr Belyaev notes. – “The first ‘push’ of the turbine was made at 30% reactor capacity. The turbine and the reactor work together for the first time. We have no remarks concerning the functioning of the hardware: everything works in accordance with the designed mechanical and heat parameters, which allows us to enter the trial program of dry-running the turbine”.
It should be reminded that the incremental commissioning of the 6th NPU at the Leningrad NPP was started on July 19, 2020, when the first fuel assembly with a fresh nuclear fuel was loaded into the nuclear vessel during the physical launch of the reactor. Presently, an incremental raise of capacity to 35-40% is performed. A series of tests is planned to be launched in the near future to test the equipment and the technological system. These tests have been designed by the program of commissioning of the NPU. After the test period is over, the unit will be connected to the network and will produce its first kWh for the Russian power grid.
The NPU No. 6 is set to be fully put into operation by 2021. The new NPU will replace its “older brother” at the LNPP, the second NPU with its RBMK-1000 reactor (a high-power channel-type reactor) after its 45 years of operation.
