Kola Nuclear Power Plant. Kola Nuclear Power Plant Kola Nuclear Power Plant 2

Kola NPP, or KNPP for short, is a branch of Rosenergoatom Concern OJSC.

The Kola Nuclear Power Plant is located 12 km from the city of Polyarnye Zori located in the Murmansk region.

KNPP divisions

The main divisions of the Kola NPP are:

Department of Nuclear Safety and Reliability (OYabiN)
Electrical Shop (EC)
Turbine Shop (TC)
Reactor Shop (RC)
Radioactive waste management workshop (RWS)
Thermal Automation and Measurement Shop (CTAM)
Chemical shop (CC)
Centralized repair shop (CR)
Railway section (RDU)

Design of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant

The station has four power units, each power unit has a VVER-440 reactor, a K-220-44-3 turbine from the Kharkov Turbine Plant and a TVV-220-2AU3 generator produced by the St. Petersburg Electrosila plant.

The capacity of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant is 5500 MW, which corresponds to an installed electrical capacity of 1760 MW.

By organizational structure can be divided into two parts. The first part includes block 1 and block 2, the second includes block 3 and block 4.

They have differences in the design of the reactor plants, the VVER-440 plants of the V-230 project are located in blocks 1 and 2, and the V-213 project plants are located in blocks 3 and 4.

In the period from 1991 to 2005, a major reconstruction of the equipment was carried out at the 1st stage, which made it possible to bring it into compliance with the new requirements of NSR (nuclear safety rules) and extend the service life by 15 years.

In 2006, a complex for processing liquid radioactive waste (LRW CP) was put into operation.

In 2007, work began on the reconstruction of blocks No. 3 and 4.

Communication with the power grid

Communication with the power system is carried out via five power transmission lines (PTL) with a voltage of 330 kV.

L396, L496- KolNPP - 330 kV substation Knyazhegubskaya (substation-206).
L397, L398- KolNPP - 330 kV Monchegorsk substation (PS-11) (Monchegorsk).
L404- KolNPP - 330 kV Titan substation (PS-204) (Apatity).
L148- KolNPP - Cascade of Nivskye HPPs (NIVA-1, -2, -3) - 110 kV.
L55- KolNPP - electric boiler house in Polyarnye Zori - 110 kV.

An option is being explored with the construction of power lines to the north of Finland, Sweden, and Norway (Pechenga Energy Bridge).

KNPP power units

Kola-1, has a VVER-440/230 reactor type, with a net power of 440 MW, launched on June 29, 1973
Kola-2, has a VVER-440/230 reactor type, with a net power of 440 MW, launched 02/21/1975
Kola-3, has a VVER-440/213 reactor type, with a net power of 440 MW, launched 12/03/1982
Kola-4, has a VVER-440/213 reactor type, with a net power of 440 MW, launched 10/11/1984
Kola-II, it is planned to install a VVER-600/498 type reactor with a net power of 675 MW, launch is scheduled for 2031.

Accident at the Kola Nuclear Power Plant

February 2, 1993

Due to the storm wind, all power lines extending from KNPP were disconnected, the station was de-energized, emergency protections were activated at all reactor installations of the nuclear power plant and the reactors were transferred to a subcritical state.

The cooling of the reactor units of blocks 3 and 4 occurred due to power supply from backup diesel generators. Due to a design error, the backup diesel generators of units 1 and 2 were not connected to the power consumers of the cooling system.

Cooling down of the reactor units of Units 1 and 2 was carried out by natural circulation, which ensures long-term removal of heat from the reactor core, corresponding to 10% of the power, which is an order of magnitude higher than the existing level of residual heat.

According to the official data of the Annual Report on the activities of the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (FS ETAN), in 2006, 4 operational violations occurred at the Kola NPP, subject to recording in accordance with the Regulations on the procedure for investigating and recording violations in the operation of nuclear power plants, including 3 violations that triggered emergency protection and one related to a failure in safety system equipment.

According to FS ETAN, greatest number disruptions in the operation of nuclear power plants “are caused by the root causes of design, management deficiencies and deficiencies in the organization of operation.”

According to Federal Service The most important safety problems of nuclear power plants with VVER reactors are: the high degree of filling of radioactive waste storage facilities (Kola – the liquid radioactive waste storage facility is 79% full – in total more than 6600 tons of waste have been accumulated) and “the lack of a solution for long-term storage of conditioned radioactive waste.”

According to the report, in 2006 the Kola Nuclear Power Plant released into the atmosphere a significant amount of dangerous radionuclides - Cesium-137 - 8.2 Megabecquerel, Cobalt-60 - 80.5 Megabecquerel, Iodine-131 - 18.8 Megabecquerel, inert radioactive gases (Krypton- 85, etc.) – 700 Megabecquerel. Data on tritium emissions are not available.

There are few places in our country where in the 60s of the 20th century industry was as energy-intensive as on the Kola Peninsula. But, having endowed the peninsula with various ores, nature deprived it of fuel. The hydropower resources of the rivers - Kovda, Tuloma, Niva - were insufficient, delivery of coal and oil to the North was too expensive. Therefore, to meet the needs of the Arctic for electricity, a decision was made to build the Kola Nuclear Power Plant.

This is the world's first nuclear power plant built beyond the Arctic Circle. Currently, it is one of the most efficient in the nuclear industry. For more than 37 years, the enterprise has been operating steadily in the extreme conditions of the Arctic. Today, the nuclear power plant is the main supplier of electricity in the Kola energy system, where its share in it is about 58.6% of generation and 47% of consumption. The main consumers of the station are two copper-nickel metallurgical plants, two iron ore plants, an aluminum plant, and a phosphate production plant. Approximately 80 thousand jobs in the region depend directly and indirectly on the Kola Nuclear Power Plant. Since the commissioning of the 1st power unit of the station, more than 330 billion kW of electricity has been supplied to the country’s energy system.
The Kola NPP occupies a special place in the energy complex of the Murmansk region and throughout Russia, providing electricity to large industrial enterprises region. 4 reactors, 8 turbines, 24 steam generators, 24 main circulation pumps plus 2618 personnel - this is what this production represents today.

Shock construction
The Leningrad branch of the Teploenergoproekt Institute sent an expedition by S.P. Ilovaisky to the village of Zasheyek in 1963 to carry out survey work to select a site for the construction of a nuclear power plant and a future village of power engineers. At the same time, the institute was working on the design of the 1st and 2nd power units of the Kola NPP. Its presentation took place a year later in Kyiv at a CMEA meeting. There it was approved, but the approval of the design assignment by the State Construction Committee for the construction of the station occurred only in 1967.
The decision to build the Kola Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) was made by the State Production Committee for Energy and Electrification of the USSR in March 1964. Specialists from the Teploenergoproekt Institute, with the participation of the chief architect of the village project, Lev Ignatievich Badridze, selected a site for the construction of a village for power engineers near the village of Zasheyek.
The first builders appeared there at the end of November 1964. They were faced with the task of creating a construction base, building housing and roads.

In 1967, the first residential building was built in the new city. The very next year, three residential buildings, a canteen, and a construction department building were built.
The construction of the nuclear power plant itself began on May 18, 1969. On this day, the first cubic meter of concrete was laid into the foundation of the future station.
The construction of the city and the Kola Nuclear Power Plant was carried out by the Kola Nuclear Power Plant construction department, which was headed by Alexander Stepanovich Andrushechko, who worked in this capacity for 17 years. In 1971, the construction site was declared an All-Union Shock Komsomol.

First Director of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant
The directorate of the nuclear power plant under construction was headed by Alexander Romanovich Belov - candidate of technical sciences, three-time winner of the USSR State Prize, one of the founders of Sredmash, a manager with extensive economic experience. This man had a lot in common with the Murmansk region. After graduation, he worked at a metallurgical plant in Monchegorsk. Since 1940, he was the chief engineer there, and it was on his shoulders that the main burden of the evacuation of this largest plant to Norilsk fell on his shoulders at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War. With the staff of the Kola NPP, he went through the most difficult period of time, when the construction and development of new production was underway.

Start of the first block
The first unit of the Kola NPP was the head of a series of VVER-440 power units with a V-230 type reactor. The commissioning of a nuclear power plant on the Kola Peninsula was provided for by the directives of the XXIV Congress of the CPSU. The builders committed to do this by December 30, 1972 - the 50th anniversary of the USSR. But at that time it was customary to launch important facilities ahead of schedule. A new deadline arose - November 7. However, gaps in the organization of labor did not allow the record to be set. Historical event occurred June 29, 1973

In the morning, Galina Alekseevna Petkevich’s shift was working at the station. It was this team that had to prepare the station directly for launch. A few hours before the main event, the shift ended. And then and. O. Station director Alexander Pavlovich Volkov decided to extend the work. At the same time, two more shifts began work - Pyotr Stepanovich Ignatovich and Anatoly Nikolaevich Fedin.

Reactor shop specialists E.M. Kulmatitsky, N.V. Fenogenov, Yu.V. Grebenyuk carried out launch operations at the control panel in strict accordance with the launch program and recommendations of the launch scientific director A.I. Belyaev and duty engineer-physicist V. M. Baryshnikova. In the controlled area, senior mechanical engineer V. A. Grebennikov, operators A. A. Polnikov and O. G. Lysenko carried out switching and exercised control repair equipment. Changing the chemical workshop every 15 minutes determined the content boric acid in the first circuit.

This complex and painstaking work lasted for more than 10 hours, and at 18:50 the instruments steadily recorded the beginning of the fission reaction in the core. In the year of its launch, the station generated 1.02 billion kWh of electricity.

Course - safety
A year later, on December 8, 1974, the second unit was launched, on March 24, 1981, the third, and on October 11, 1984, the fourth. Currently, the station operates four power units with pressurized water reactors. The power of each of them is 440 thousand kilowatts.
Over 37 years of uninterrupted operation, the Kola Nuclear Power Plant has generated more than 330 billion kWh of electricity and has earned a reputation for efficient and stable production. Throughout the years of operation, the main priority of the nuclear power plant has been the constant improvement of safety. Today, the share of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant in the energy balance is more than 50% of all electricity generated in the region.

Its specialists took part in the startups of the Armenian, Rivne, Kalinin, Zaporozhye, Beloyarsk, Balakovo, Rostov nuclear power plants, as well as the Loviza (Finland), Nord (Germany), Kozloduy (Bulgaria), Paks nuclear power plants. (Hungary), “Bohunice” and “Dukovany” (Czech Republic and Slovakia), “Juragua” (Cuba).

At the Kola NPP, a large-scale program to improve safety, reconstruct and modernize the equipment of the 1st and 2nd power units (type 230) has been successfully completed. As a result, confirmation was received (license from Gosatomnadzor of Russia) for the operation of power units beyond the established design period. All work was carried out in accordance with the requirements current legislation, federal norms and regulations in the field of nuclear energy use, taking into account IAEA recommendations and international experience on issues of service life management and safety assessment of nuclear power plants.

Since 1989, about 850 projects have been implemented under the reconstruction plan. In this case, we used our own funds, funds from the Rosenergoatom concern, the federal budget, and technical assistance foreign countries, governments of Norway, Finland, Sweden, USA. Currently, a comprehensive program is being implemented to prepare for extending the service life of the third and fourth power units.

The best nuclear power plant in Russia
In the late 90s, the Kola NPP was recognized as the best nuclear power plant in Russia for three years in a row following a competition held by the Rosenergoatom concern. She achieved this title having best performance on safety and sustainability, production efficiency, electricity generation, injury reduction, capital investment utilization, and personnel management. The company's personnel policy is based on the principle of working as a single, highly professional team, when many significant issues are resolved collectively. Personal responsibility is very high and so is mutual control.

The director of the Kola Nuclear Plant branch of the Rosenergoatom concern is currently Vasily Vasilyevich Omelchuk, a specialist with extensive experience in the nuclear industry and at the Kola Nuclear Power Plant. The station has developed a whole range of works to maintain and improve the qualifications of personnel, improve procedures and increase the discipline and responsibility of each employee.
Kola NPP is a city-forming enterprise. Thanks to her financial support, an indoor Ice Sports Palace appeared in the city of polar nuclear scientists, Orthodox church, medical equipment was purchased for MSCh-118 and vehicles for the local police department, and a modern ski complex was built. The most important social facility in Polyarnye Zory, introduced with the help of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant, was the construction of an electric heating boiler house in the city. With its commissioning, Polarnozorin residents do not have problems with hot water supply and heating season start earlier than anyone else in the Murmansk region.

Breakthrough in production
The last decade has been a real breakthrough in the activities of the Kola NPP. It was during these years that large-scale work was carried out here to improve safety, reconstruct and modernize the equipment of the 1st and 2nd power units (type 230). As a result, the enterprise received a license from Gosatomnadzor of Russia to operate them for 15 years beyond the established design period. A comprehensive program is being implemented to prepare for extending the service life of the 3rd and 4th power units.
The main achievement of these years is the commissioning of a unique industrial facility - a complex for processing liquid radioactive waste, and the development of technology that makes it possible to reduce the amount of liquid radioactive waste before disposal.

Environment is of paramount importance
Environmental issues at the Kola NPP are given paramount importance. Constant monitoring of the radiation situation in the area where the power plant is located has been carried out since 1972, when background measurements of radioactivity of the main natural objects were carried out.
A special zone with a radius of 15 kilometers has been established around the nuclear power plant, in which the environmental laboratory regularly conducts radiation and environmental testing of soil, air, water, bottom sediments, plants, fish, mushrooms and berries. Continuous monitoring is carried out using an automated radiation monitoring system (ASKRO). The ASKRO of the Kola NPP includes 25 gamma radiation dose rate monitoring sensors, five automated weather stations, a weather radar and a mobile radiometric laboratory. Information from sensors and radiation monitoring posts is sent to the radiation safety service of the Kola NPP, the crisis center of the Rosenergoatom concern and ASRO of the Murmansk region.

The results of long-term observations show that the operation of the nuclear power plant does not change the natural radiation background and the state of the environment in the area where the KNPP is located. This is achieved through strict compliance with industry standards at the enterprise. A striking example environmental safety The station is served by many years of successful operation of a trout farm located at the mouth of the discharge canal.

Kola NPP was one of the first to sign the protocol of accession to the social agreement “On the conservation of wildlife in Russia” and assumed the corresponding obligations. It also supports the Lapland Biosphere Reserve.
And in 2008, KNPP became a laureate of the “Gold Medal” competition European quality" in the category " 100 best organizations in Russia. Ecology and environmental management".

Unique Russian development
One of the urgent tasks, which the Kola NPP began to solve in the 90s of the last century, is the reduction and conditioning of a significant amount of accumulated liquid radioactive waste (LRW). Preliminary design, survey and research work was carried out at the station, and a large volume of pilot industrial research was carried out. A project for modernizing the liquid radioactive waste management system was formed.

In 2006, a liquid radioactive waste processing complex (LRW CP) was put into operation at KNPP.
The LRW CP is designed for removal of liquid radioactive waste (bottom residue) from storage tanks and their purification from radionuclides (the first direction of processing). Thanks to the application latest technologies The main radionuclides contained in the waste are concentrated in a minimum volume in a special filter container. The unique ion-selective sorption technique used at KNPP makes it possible to reduce the amount of radioactive waste to be buried by 50 times, as well as to get rid of all liquid radioactive waste accumulated at the station in 12-15 years.

The Kola Nuclear Power Plant is the northernmost nuclear power plant in Europe and the first nuclear power plant in the USSR built beyond the Arctic Circle. Despite the harsh climate of the region and the long polar night, the water near the station never freezes. The nuclear power plant does not affect the state of the environment, this is evidenced by the fact that in the area of the outlet canal there is a fish farm where trout are bred all year round.

1. The history of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant began in the mid-1960s: residents of the union continued to actively develop the northern part of the territories, and the rapid development of industry required large energy costs. The country's leadership decided to build a nuclear power plant in the Arctic, and in 1969, builders laid the first cubic meter of concrete.

In 1973, the first power unit of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant was launched, and in 1984, the last one, the fourth power unit, was put into operation.

2. The station is located above the Arctic Circle on the shores of Lake Imandra, twelve kilometers from the city of Polyarnye Zori, Murmansk region.

It consists of four VVER-440 power units with an installed capacity of 1,760 MW and provides electricity to a number of enterprises in the region.

The Kola Nuclear Power Plant produces 60% of the electricity in the Murmansk region, and in its area of responsibility there are large cities, including Murmansk, Apatity, Monchegorsk, Olenegorsk and Kandalaksha.

3. Reactor protective cap No. 1. Deep below it is the nuclear reactor vessel, which is a cylindrical vessel.
The body weight is 215 tons, diameter is 3.8 m, height is 11.8 m, wall thickness is 140 mm. The thermal power of the reactor is 1375 MW.

4. The upper block of the reactor is a structure that is designed to seal its body, accommodate control system drives, and protect
and in-reactor control sensors.

5. Over the 45 years of operation of the station, not a single case of exceeding natural background values has been recorded. But a “peaceful” atom remains so only
with due control and proper operation all systems. To check the radiation situation at the station, fifteen control posts have been installed.

6. The second reactor was put into operation in 1975.

7. Case for moving 349 fuel cassettes at KNPP.

8. Mechanism for protecting the reactor and station from internal and external factors. Under the hood of each KNPP reactor there are forty-seven tons of nuclear fuel, which heats the primary circuit water.

9. The control panel (MCC) is the nerve center of a nuclear power plant. Designed to monitor power unit performance and control technological processes at a nuclear power plant.

10.

11. The shift in the control room of the third power unit of the Kola NPP consists of only three people.

12. Such a large number of controls makes your eyes wide open.

13.

14. Sectional model of the VVER-440 reactor core.

15.

16.

17. A career as a nuclear specialist requires serious technical training and is impossible without the pursuit of professional excellence.

18. Machine room. Turbines are installed here, to which steam is continuously supplied from a steam generator, heated to 255°C. With their help, a generator is driven, which produces electric current.

19. An electric generator, inside which the rotational energy of a turbine rotor is converted into electricity.

20. The generator turbine, assembled in 1970 at the Kharkov Turbine Plant, has been in use for forty-five years. Its rotation frequency is three thousand revolutions per minute. Eight turbines of the K-220-44 type are installed in the hall.

21. More than two thousand people work at KNPP. To ensure stable operation of the station, staff constantly monitors its technical condition.

22. The length of the machine room is 520 meters.

23. The pipeline system of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant stretches for kilometers throughout the entire territory of the power plant.

24. With the help of transformers, the electricity generated by the generator enters the network. And the steam exhausted in the turbine condensers becomes water again.

25. Open switchgear. It is from here that the electricity generated by the station reaches the consumer.

26.

27. The station was built off the shores of Imandra, the largest lake in the Murmansk region and one of the largest lakes in Russia. The territory of the reservoir is 876 km², depth is 100 m.

28. Chemical water treatment area. After processing, chemically desalted water is obtained here, which is necessary for the operation of power units.

29. Laboratory. Specialists of the chemical workshop of the Kola NPP ensure that the water chemistry regime at the station meets the plant operating standards.

30.

31.

32. The Kola NPP has its own training center and a full-scale simulator, which are designed to train and improve the skills of plant personnel.

33. Students are supervised by an instructor who teaches them how to interact with the control system and what to do in the event of a malfunction of the station.

34. These containers store non-radioactive salt melt, which is the final product of liquid waste processing.

35. The technology for managing liquid radioactive waste from the Kola NPP is unique and has no analogues in the country. It allows reducing the amount of radioactive waste that must be disposed of by 50 times.

36. Operators of the liquid radioactive waste processing complex monitor all stages of processing. The entire process is fully automated.

37. Reset cleared waste water into the outlet channel leading to the Imandra reservoir.

38. Water discharged from nuclear power plants is classified as standard clean and does not pollute environment, but affect the thermal regime of the reservoir.

39. On average, the water temperature at the mouth of the outlet canal is five degrees higher than the water intake temperature.

40. In the area of the KNPP diversion channel, Lake Imandra does not freeze even in winter.

41. For industrial environmental supervision at the Kola NPP they use automated system monitoring of radiation conditions (ASKRO).

42. The mobile radiometric laboratory, which is part of ASKRO, allows you to conduct gamma surveys of the area along designated routes, take air and water samples using samplers, determine the content of radionuclides in the samples and transmit the received information to the ASRO information and analytical center via radio channel.

43. Collection of atmospheric precipitation, sampling of soil, snow cover and grass are carried out at 15 permanent observation points.

44. The Kola Nuclear Power Plant also has other projects. For example, a fishery complex in the area of a nuclear power plant discharge canal.

45. The farm raises rainbow trout and Lena sturgeon.

47. Polyarnye Zori is a city of power engineers, builders, teachers and doctors. Founded in 1967 during the construction of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant, it is located on the banks of the Niva River and Lake Pin-Lake, 224 km from Murmansk. As of 2018, the city has a population of approximately 17,000 people.

48. Polyarnye Zori is one of the northernmost cities in Russia, and winter here lasts 5-7 months a year.

49. Holy Trinity Church on the street. Lomonosov.

50. On the territory of the city of Polyarnye Zori there are 6 children's preschool institutions and 3 schools.

51. The system of lakes Iokostrovskaya Imandra and Babinskaya Imandra flows into the White Sea through the Niva River.

52. The White Sea is an internal shelf sea of the Arctic Ocean, in the European Arctic between the Kola Peninsula of the Holy Nose and the Kanin Peninsula. The water area is 90.8 thousand km², depths up to 340 m.

- Listen, Bazin, do you have a dream?
- What dream?
- Well, what do you dream about in life?
- My dream is to buy a coat.
- Well, what kind of dream is this?
....
- Here, wear it for your health.
-Are you crazy, or what?
- Wear it and dream about something great.
Courier (film, 1986)

Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to visit the Kola Nuclear Power Plant as part of a blog tour organized by the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant. It has been my long-time dream to visit a nuclear power plant. I always thought that Balakovskaya would become such a station, but at the time the stars did not align, although I hope to see it someday. Moreover, I know the city well, and have been to and seen the nuclear power plant itself many times from different angles. In general, it is not enough for a complete picture of the city.

Nuclear energy It’s not something that can be quickly explained on fingers, so I won’t go into too much detail, especially since long and thoughtful texts are poorly received by the LiveJournal audience.

In order to get to the Kola Nuclear Power Plant, we set off early in the morning towards the city of Polyarnye Zori, which is located 224 kilometers from Murmansk. This city is very young and, as you might guess, it arose solely due to the existence of a nuclear power plant in its vicinity. Of the fifteen thousand population, about two thousand work directly at the nuclear power plant. Unlike the regional center, everything is normal here with the population dynamics. And if this value has decreased over recent years, then extremely insignificant (cannot be compared with the frightening figures of Murmansk). It is clear that working at the station can be considered prestigious. And people are coming here. Again, it is clear that some of the specialists are not local, this is the specificity of the industry.

With the first glimpses of dawn, absolutely mesmerizing landscapes open up to us. I travel around Russia quite a bit and never cease to be amazed at how fantastic our nature is. Snow-capped mountains and forests, nimble ice-free rivers and huge lakes flash through the windows of the bus. Unlike Murmansk, there is already a good, strong frost here.

First, we drove into the territory of the training and rehabilitation center, located opposite the road to the station itself. The area located on the shore of the lake is impressive and more reminiscent of a good European resort. Physics and sports methodologist Evgeniy Chenousyak told us about the work of the Center. In general, the sports component here is very impressive and, as I understand it, the residents of the region are generally quite athletic, especially, of course, when it comes to winter sports. And at the same Kola Nuclear Power Plant all conditions have been created for full-fledged sports. The so-called “social sphere” is impressive. Of course, no one here, as in Soviet era, will not distribute housing (these are not the same times), but again they will help with this, let’s add medicine and the already mentioned sports. Let's remove the noise and bustle of big cities and traffic jams. The nature, as I already mentioned, in these parts is breathtaking. In general, I got the impression that people come to work here seriously and for a long time. And it’s not surprising, given the various tolerances, checks, etc. This is not for you to get a job as a taxi driver.

Station employees involved in active sports life manage to travel to various competitions and bring back awards from there. In general, a healthy mind in a healthy body.

1. An ordinary village in the Murmansk region.

Of course, a lot of attention is paid to security issues. If, when visiting the Saratov Hydroelectric Power Plant, when we were introduced to the security system there, I clearly understood that not even a mouse could slip through there unnoticed, then at the Kola Nuclear Power Plant I became convinced that not even a thought could slip through here unnoticed. Once you are outside the station perimeter, your every move is under control. Although I suspect that this is starting to happen even earlier) I think there is no point in mentioning passport data that is checked long ago, clearly verified camera and lens numbers, and personal belongings posted long before they reach the station. In this regard, we were very lucky: we brought all the stated photographic equipment with us and could freely take photographs in designated places. And this is already a kind of revolution in blog tours to nuclear power plants, because everyone probably remembers that in the first such trips, photographic equipment was simply confiscated at some stations. Since then, a lot of water has already flowed under the bridge, and many of those who wanted to see with their own eyes how this amazing atomic organism lives had the opportunity to do so. Safety precautions, various checks, reconciliations, transitions from one space to another naturally take a lot of time. But I would even get nervous if I saw even a hint of carelessness here. And so, the atomic border is locked. The transition to the turbine room and power units really resembled crossing the border - checking passports and equipment, machine gunners... they just didn’t issue a visa. How many representatives of the security service were with us is a state secret, but for each blogger there were quite a few of them) So somewhere there it would have been simply impossible to secretly quickly click on something, and at the end of the visit the security officers may well selectively look at your camera. In this situation, it is clear that only a number of points were allowed for shooting and, by the way, quite a small one. Personally, I really missed general view station, it would look especially impressive, as I understand it, from the side of the lake or canal between them. And I really wanted to see the trout farm, which they are proud of here. But this is rather a matter of time. Since it took us the whole day to visit the station. I almost said light, which would have sounded funny in the context of the polar night that had set in there.

In the Murmansk region, many things are the first or the only ones beyond the Arctic Circle, the most northern, and the like. The Kola Nuclear Power Plant is the first nuclear power plant in Russia built beyond the Arctic Circle. The northernmost nuclear power plant in Europe. The station consists of four power units, with VVER-440 reactors and K-220-44-3 turbines from the Kharkov Turbine Plant and TVV-220-2AU3 generators produced by the St. Petersburg Electrosila plant. The thermal power of the nuclear power plant is 5,500 MW, which corresponds to the installed electrical power of 1,760 MW.

Today the station is the main supplier of electricity for two regions - the Murmansk region and Karelia.

Organizationally, it is divided into the 1st (block 1,2) and 2nd (block -3,4) stages, due to differences in the design of the VVER-440 reactor plants of the V-230 project (block 1,2) and V-213 (blocks 3,4).

In 1991-2005, a major reconstruction of the equipment was carried out at the 1st stage, which made it possible to bring it into compliance with the new requirements of the NSR (nuclear safety rules) and extend the service life by 15 years.

In 2006, a complex for processing liquid radioactive waste (LRW CP) was put into operation. In 2007, work began on the reconstruction of blocks No. 3 and 4.

An interesting fact: Galina Alekseevna Petkevich launched the Kola Nuclear Power Plant. This is the first and so far only woman in the world to launch a nuclear reactor.

Joint turbine room of the Kola NPP. In the turbine room there are 4 K-220-44-3 turbines with generators of the TVV-220-2AU3 type. The electrical power of each turbogenerator is 440 MW. At the entrance here we take earplugs, the noise here is so loud that you can’t hear your neighbor.

If we could walk freely in the turbine room "in civilian life", then the transition to the power units required a complete change of clothes. The only thing left on my body, sorry, is underwear. The chain and cross went into a special locker. In general, all these changing clothes and leaving things in different places made me worry. I am prone to some absent-mindedness, so I always try to keep clearly in my mind where everything is and not to forget about anything. Here we left our things gradually and in the end there were about five different places like this, and in the end the cameras were taken away at the exit and returned to another place. But it seems that he coped with serious brain tension and did not mix up or forget anything). Everyone was given dosimeters, and at the exit from each room it was necessary to check for “cleanliness”.

9. Slava Rinatovich Avezniyazov - head of the radioactive waste management workshop. (TSORO) Kola NPP.

10. Block control panel of the TsORO complex

16. In the radioactive waste processing workshop.

Let's dwell a little more on radioactive waste, especially since this topic is always on the lips, and the legends about their burial here and there are very strong in popular rumor. So, if it’s quite primitive, then at the output we have liquid radioactive waste, called liquid radioactive waste. The first time I heard this beautiful abbreviation, evoking something French, I didn’t know what it was about. At the Kola Nuclear Power Plant there is a complex for processing such waste - KP. Without abbreviations at a nuclear power plant, it’s just as difficult for an uninitiated person as at a military facility or ship. As a result, the output is a non-radioactive melt. Kola Nuclear Power Plant were the pioneers of this technology.

The technology for cleaning liquid radioactive waste from radionuclides, used at the liquid radioactive waste control point of the Kola NPP, is unique. It allows reducing the amount of radioactive waste to be buried by more than 50 times.

The Kola NPP liquid radioactive waste storage facility is designed to extract bottoms from storage tanks and clean them from radionuclides, concentrate radionuclides in a minimum volume and convert them into a solid phase, ensuring safe storage and disposal. The product of processing bottom residues is a solidified salt product (salt melt), which does not belong to the category of radioactive waste. The second direction of processing is cementation of used ion-exchange resins and sludge.

If you still have some energy left after all these abbreviations, let's take a look at the NPP training center.

21. Control panel in the training center. A real control room at a nuclear power plant looks exactly the same.

Each reactor unit requires a control room designed for centralized control of the main process units and. main process equipment during start-up, normal operation, planned shutdown and emergency situations. The control room controls the switches of generators and transformers. n., backup power inputs with. n. 6 and 0.4 kV, switches for electric motors. power units, generator excitation systems, diesel generator sets and other emergency sources, fire extinguishing devices for cable rooms and power unit transformers.

The control room of each nuclear power plant unit is located in a separate room (the main building or a separate building).

At a nuclear power plant, the control room consists of operational and non-operational parts. In the operational part there are consoles, panels with control elements, remote control and regulation. In the non-operational part there are panels for periodic control, electronic regulation, and logical control of technological protections.

And in Polyarnye Zoryi itself we visited the information center of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant. The head of the information service Tatyana Rozontova gave us a tour of the center. In fact, she stoically accompanied us all day, for which many thanks to her and the entire station staff.

32. The turtle, by the way, is made from the same liquid radioactive waste mentioned above. Such turtles could become a kind of souvenir from the station, but for obvious reasons, turtles do not crawl beyond the boundaries of the territories under the jurisdiction of the nuclear power plant.

Materials used:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%90%D0 %AD%D0%A1
http://www.energyland.info/analitic-show-91474
http://www.gigavat.com/pgu_foto3.php

Thanks to Tatyana Rozontova, #KNPP and #LNPP for the opportunity to visit the Kola NPP.

Just yesterday I returned from a trip to the Kola Peninsula. Before this, I had never been to an operating nuclear power plant. I assumed that there were strict requirements for the safety of the facility - after all, it was a strategic and potentially dangerous production. I read that very strict regulations are used among employees to prevent human exposure to radiation. It was said a lot that the nuclear power plant is absolutely safe for people living nearby and the environment.

But what I actually saw did not coincide at all with my theoretical ideas and expectations...

A lot of things were caught on camera but not in the photo. Therefore, in addition to the photo report, I advise you to also watch my video:

Subscribe to my YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/MasterokST. In the near future there will be a lot about the Murmansk region.

They told me a lot of things in the Murmansk region the most/most NORTHERN(we will remember all this in subsequent posts), but the Kola Nuclear Power Plant is not the northernmost. The northernmost is now considered Bilibino NPP(Chukotka NPP) - the northernmost nuclear power plant in Russia and the world is located in the permafrost zone in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Russian Federation near the city of Bilibino, at a distance of 4.5 kilometers from the latter.

But Kola Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP), located 12 km from the city of Polyarnye Zori, also has its own record regalia - it is the first nuclear power plant in the world built beyond the Arctic Circle.

Let's look at the history of its construction.

Photo 2.

The Leningrad branch of the Teploenergoproekt Institute sent an expedition by S.P. Ilovaisky to the village of Zasheyek in 1963 to carry out survey work to select a site for the construction of a nuclear power plant and a future village of power engineers. The first builders appeared there at the end of November 1964. They were faced with the task of creating a construction base, building housing and roads.

The construction of the nuclear power plant itself began on May 18, 1969. On this day, the first cubic meter of concrete was laid into the foundation of the future station. The construction of the city and the Kola Nuclear Power Plant was carried out by the Kola Nuclear Power Plant construction department, which was headed by Alexander Stepanovich Andrushechko, who worked in this capacity for 17 years. In 1971, the construction site was declared an All-Union Shock Komsomol.

Photo 3.

It's interesting that:
- The Kola Nuclear Power Plant project was based on the construction projects of power units No. 3 and No. 4 of the Novovoronezh NPP.
- During construction, we had to change designs several times, because... operation of equipment at extremely low northern temperatures required a special approach and adjustments to the design documentation.
- The first stage of construction (power units No. 1 and No. 2) was completed in 4 years, which is quite fast by the standards of nuclear power plant construction.

Photo 4.

In June 1973, the first power unit of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant was launched. In December 1974, the Kola Nuclear Power Plant received nuclear reactor No. 2 for operation.

The Kola Nuclear Power Plant has slow neutron water reactors VVER-440. Their total capacity is 1760 MW. The third power unit of the nuclear power plant was connected to the system in 1983, the fourth - in 1984.

Photo 5.

So, we arrived at the power plant. I’ll say right away that they were allowed to film very little and they strictly monitored it. In fact, if windows were in the shooting angle, filming was prohibited. All transitions between workshops are prohibited from filming. Employee screening procedures - filming is prohibited. Two security officers walked with us, who steadily monitored the implementation of instructions and regulations. Because of this, the photo and video report itself may seem somewhat ragged in content.

Of course, I assumed that employees go through a lot of safety procedures and diagnostics of infection, but I didn’t think so much. Frankly, I was more tired of following the instructions themselves than of inspecting the station.

It all started with the fact that we changed into work clothes and put on blue helmets.

We passed the control point and checked documents from the station hall. By the way, there are interesting automatic booths there - if you go there and have some kind of jamb with documents, you won’t be able to escape from there and will be locked. Employees are checked using passes and fingerprints. The equipment is all modern, but imported. This was already the third point where they checked our permissions and documents, and we had only just passed the front entrance. Very strict rules.

We head to the engine room.

So we enter the machine room. This is the area around the turbines that transform thermal energy steam to electric. They are indicated by the number 3. And at the bottom of the hall there are various mechanisms, capacitors, pumps.

This is the second circuit of the reactor and everything here is completely non-radioactive and everything is safe. Employees wear a helmet and regular work clothes and do not undergo any further processing.

This is what the hall itself looks like. There is a lot of noise from the operation of the turbines, so earplugs are required element equipment. There is nothing superfluous in the room. There is order everywhere and nothing is lying around anywhere. Please note. But this is a huge enterprise with a bunch of mechanisms and units.

A lot of pipes and very few people. It feels like there is simply no one here. Everything itself makes noise and buzzes.

Photo 10.

In fact, having walked through the entire machine room, we met at most a couple of people passing by.

Photo 11.

By the way, this is one of them.

Photo 12.

So many measuring instruments. When I asked why almost everything was analog and not digital, they answered that it was a matter of reliability. I would like to dig deeper into this topic.

Photo 13.

Here is the plaque on the turbine - it has been in operation since 1970.

Photo 14.

However, of course, a lot of things are being modernized. In general terms, only the reactor vessel remained untouched by modernization, and this is because this is physically impossible. There will be more interesting information about the building later.

Photo 15.

Actually, there is nothing directly spectacular - pipes, pipes, arrows, pipes. Still, they expect that the uranium rods in the nuclear reactor will begin to be changed right in front of them. Of course, when everything works, everything is very modest, not counting the size.

Photo 16.

As we already know, there are 4 reactors at a nuclear power plant. Accordingly, there are 2 control panels, on which are the head of the unit (1,2,3,4) and the head of the entire shift of the nuclear power plant. The engineers on duty are also there.

We went to the control panel of reactor units 1 and 2.

What can you ask the shift manager? Of course, about the accidents that he had on his shift. They didn’t tell us anything serious, except that there was an overload in the network due to an accident on the power lines. It was necessary to reduce the power of the station.

Photo 18.

It is in this circle that the locations of the rods in the core are shown.

Once again you pay attention to the abundance of analog instruments and indicators.

Photo 21.

Photo 22.

We move to the reactor hall.

Photo 23.

But who is responsible for safety at the station itself - ALL who work and are there!

Photo 24.

To get into the reactor hall you need to change clothes again, down to your underwear and shoes.

So before this we must go through the security control post (the guy with the machine gun checks passports and documents again) and the radiation control post. Everyone working at the station and passing through this post to the computer room receives two individual dosimeters. The first one accumulates the radiation received and upon exiting it is left in such a cell.

Photo 25.

And the second one shows how much radiation you received during your visit to the station in this shift, and each time it is handed over to the post for control.

Photo 26.

We passed this corridor with UV lamps.

We changed our helmets and completely changed our clothes, down to our underwear, socks and shoes.

Just imagine, employees do this all the time. Even to go out for lunch you need to go through all this, and then when you go out you must also take a shower and do 2 checks for infection in automatic booths.

Photo 28.

This is not our photo, but this is how we were dressed:

Photo 29.

And here it is - the reactor lid.

Under this cover there is such a reactor:

Photo 31.

Photo tnenergy , Shown here is the installation of a VVER-440 vessel at the third unit of the Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant in Slovakia. This all happens on September 7, 2010

The hall actually looks very deserted.

Photo 32.

There are a lot of graphic images on the floor and everything is covered with sheets of metal. The unremarkable ceiling actually withstands a plane crash.

Last year it was reported that specialists from the Kola NPP (a branch of the Rosenergoatom Concern) and specialized organizations carried out a unique set of works to restore the physical and mechanical properties of the metal of the reactor vessel, which change during operation due to radiation exposure - annealing the reactor vessel of power unit No. 1.

During the annealing process, the metal of the reactor vessel is slowly heated to 475 degrees Celsius. Then it is kept at this temperature for 150 hours and then gradually cooled.

Earlier in 2016, metal samples (so-called templates) were cut out from the reactor vessel and annealed in laboratory conditions on the territory of the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" to determine its actual state.

In parallel, JSC OKB Gidropress is working to substantiate the possibility of extending the life of the reactor vessel using the results of template studies carried out by the National Research Center Kurchatov Institute. Based on the results of strength calculations, JSC OKB Gidropress will give an opinion on the possibility and conditions of the extension.

Photo 33.

Rack for storing assemblies.

Photo 34.

Cases for fuel assemblies are stored here.

Photo 35.

All this is located right in the hall and has no danger. Personal dosimeters showed everything at zero.

Photo 36.

After leaving the reactor hall, we must undergo automatic radiation monitoring of our feet and palms. Well, maybe they touched just about anything or stomped on where they shouldn’t have!

And all over the station there are very funny slogans:

Photo 38.

By the way, back in 2006, the Kola Nuclear Power Plant acquired its own complex for processing liquid radioactive waste. After processing them using the Kola Nuclear Power Plant method, only a non-radioactive salt alloy remains, which they have not yet learned how to use further. It is stored on the station premises in large metal barrels.

By the way, such a complex is the only one in the world!

Let's first go to the control panel of this complex:

Photo 39.

Look how modern it is here in terms of equipment, information stands and instruments.

Photo 40.

Process control.

But here they are, the barrels themselves containing solid waste, which now pose no danger.

Photo 42.

So, this complex is designed to remove liquid radioactive waste accumulated over the years of operation of nuclear power plants from storage tanks, clean them and transfer them to a safe state. The final product of the processing of bottom residues - salt melt - does not belong to the category of radioactive waste and in the future can become the starting material for the extraction of useful chemical compounds.

Photo 43.

Here is a carousel below, on which there is still an empty barrel, which will soon be filled.

Then this barrel is lifted onto the platform with these claws and a lift.

But I didn’t find out what this protective plate is for, but it looks very reliable :-)

There are markings everywhere on the floor.

Photo 48.

We leave the hall and also check for contamination. I touched these salts in a barrel - the indicators showed everything at zero.

Photo 49.

And this is what the assembly of the reactor rod looks like.

Photo 50.

It is interesting that the Kola Nuclear Power Plant can be called the most sporting nuclear power plant in Russia. And here's why:

1,700 people out of 2,500 station workers are involved in amateur sports. This is more than 2/3 of the entire state. Among them there are also professionals, mostly masters of winter sports. Some employees even go to Russian championships. The station has its own swimming pool, ice rink and gym.
- Back in the 1990s, the Kola Nuclear Power Plant opened its own ski resort “Salma”. The ski slope has become a resort destination. Athletes from Japan and China often even come there to train. Competitions in 16 sports are held annually among station employees. Athletes from other nuclear power plants also come to these competitions.
- Kola NPP has its own hockey and football teams.
- For the benefit of the people, the Kola Nuclear Power Plant produces drinking water, which is cleaned in a separate workshop with a filtration system that was invented at the station. The water workshop produces 250 bottles of sparkling water per hour.

And one more thing...

Considering that water from the secondary circuit of the reactor is discharged into the reservoir, they decided to build a Trout Complex on Imandra to demonstrate the safety of this process. As we remember, trout live only in absolutely clean water, therefore it will simultaneously be an indicator of the safety of water discharged by the nuclear power plant, and will also be an additional source of income for the enterprise.

This is the only farm in the region where you can grow fish. all year round. The warm waters of the nuclear power plant's discharge channel provide trout with resort-like living conditions. The trout here grows quickly, is full-bodied, meaty, and the Murmansk markets now sell fish from Imandra. Sturgeons on Imandra are exotic from the Kola North. Considering that the resource warm waters on the territory of the region is limited by the discharge canal of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant; no one else can repeat this experience. Siberian sturgeon appeared on the Imandra trout farm seven years ago.

Photo 52.

Sturgeon and trout are bred in these cages. The sturgeon has been growing in this cage since 1992. Look how huge it is already. Yes, it is used to produce black caviar.

The rest of the cages contain trout. These are essentially pens covered with mesh that are organized right on the water surface. Fish lives in running water lakes.

Photo 53.

Trout. The company is quite profitable and is constantly expanding and developing.

Photo 54.

The nuclear power plant discharges warm water, look at the steam coming out. As far as I remember, they said that the water in the lake is now +11 degrees in winter.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to try fish and caviar :-(

I note that the tour of the Kola Peninsula took place with the support of Rostourism, the government of the Murmansk region and Odnoklassniki.ru
Thank you all very much.