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Ageing reactors could get another service life extension

The Kola NPP is likely to live many more years.

Murmansk is pushing for an additional lifetime extension of the ageing reactors at the Kola NPP.

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The issue of the Kola NPP reactors is currently under review, plant director Vladimir Matveev confirms in a meeting with regional Governor Marina Kovtun. ”We plan to extend the service life of the plant and modernize the reactors”, Matveev confirms. “This will make the reactors able to work for a long time, and in a reliable and safe way”, he adds.

Murmansk is increasinly pushing on Rosatom, the Russian nuclear power company, to extend the service lifetime of the Kola NPP reactors, as well as to build a new plant in the region.

Time is a key issue for the region. The two oldest reactors are to be taken out of service in 2018 and 2019 respectively and that will ultimately lead to an energy deficit in Murmansk Oblast and Karelia.

The Kola NPP today accounts for about 60 percent of power production in Murmansk Oblast. Thanks to the plant, Murmansk currently has a energy production surplus, which enables it to sell power both to neighboring Karelia and to the Scandinavian market.

”The power surplus is our competitive advantage and something which attracts big indutrial companies to the region”, Governor Kovtun says in a press release. Kovtun believes the the Kola NPP is crucial for attracting big investors to the region, among them oil company Rosneft.

The oldest Kola NPP reactor was built in 1973 and was originally to be closed down after 30 years of operation. The reactors are configured on a double-unit basis, two reactors are arranged in one reactor hall with certain mechanical equipment and secondary systems together. Hall No. 1 holds the VVER-440/230 reactors from 1973 and 1974, while hall No. 2 holds theVVER-440/213 reactors commissioned in 1981 and 1984.

According to Rosatom, a new Kola NPP-2 will be built no earlier than in the late 2020s or early 2030s.