Workers have completed the construction of the concrete foundation pit for Unit 8 at Russia’s Leningrad nuclear power station.
First nuclear safety-related concrete is scheduled to be poured for the VVER-1200 plant, known both as Leningrad-8 and Leningrad 2-4, next year.
Rosenergoatom, the nuclear power plant operating division of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said construction of the pit took about two months and was completed two-and-a-half months ahead of schedule.
The work was carried out by Titan-2, the general contractor for the construction of new power units at Leningrad, 70 km to the west of the city centre of Saint Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland.
The Leningrad site has two units, Leningrad 2-3 and Leningrad 2-4, under construction, four units in operation and two that are permanently shut down.
The two units that are under construction are scheduled to be commissioned in 2030 and 2032, Rosenergoatom said.
Leningrad-1 and Leningrad-2, both Soviet-era RBMK-1000 light-water graphite units, were permanently shut down in 2018 and 2020 respectively.
Leningrad-3 and Leningrad-4, also Soviet-era RBMK-1000 light-water graphite units, are operational but scheduled for closure.
Leningrad 2-1 and Leningrad 2-2 are both newer, Generation III+ pressurised water reactor units. They began commercial operation in 2017 and 2019.
Rosatom said Leningrad is the largest nuclear power station in Russia in terms of installed capacity with 4,400 MW.
According to International Atomic Energy Agency data, Russia has 36 nuclear plants in commercial operation and four under construction, but that figure does not include Leningrad 2-4.
President Vladimir Putin said at the start of construction for Leningrad-2-3 earlier this year that by 2045, the share of nuclear generation in the country’s energy mix will increase to 25% – up from around 18.4% today.
