Pilot Operation Cleared at Rostov Unit 4 Reactor in Russia

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The final reactor at Russia's Rostov nuclear power plant has been granted a licence to begin pilot operation.

The licence was granted by the country's nuclear body, the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor), and heralds the start of the final stage of the commissioning works at Unit 4 at the Rostov plant, near the town of Volgodonsk in the south of the country.

Earlier this month, plant operator Rosenergoatom, the nuclear power plant operator division of Russia's state-owned Rosatom Corporation (Moscow, Russia), stated that the final stage of Unit 4's start-up was completed when it successfully operated at 40% of its total power level (300 MW) for four hours before being shut down for further testing.

"The program of the pilot production phase includes the gradual increase of the power unit capacity to its maximum of 100%, as well as the completion of the complex of system testing and the testing of the power unit in general and transient conditions," said the deputy chief engineer at the plant, Svyatoslav Chukavin. "The results of the testing will prove the design characteristics of its reliability and safety."

Power will be gradually increased to the maximum capacity of the reactor at 1,000 MW, after tests at all power levels at 40%, 50%, 75%, 90% and 100%. The plant will be fully commissioned in the coming months, probably before Russia's other new reactor at the new Leningrad II nuclear power plant, which was brought up to the minimum controllable power (MCP) level of less than 1% in mid-February in preparation for full commissioning later this year. For additional information, see February 14, 2018, article - Final Tests Occur at Unit I of Russia's Leningrad II Nuclear Power Plant.

Rostov nuclear power plant boasts four 1,000-MW VVER reactors, with the first three units commissioned in 2001, 2010 and 2015. The plant is one of the largest electricity providers in the south of the country and currently supplies more than 40% of electric power production in the region, which will jump to 54% when Unit 4 is fully commissioned.

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