There are now nine nuclear power plants in Russia, and all of them are operational. Eight of them are part of the Rosenergoatom system, one (Leningrad NPP) is an independent operating organization.
Rosenergoatom includes the following nuclear power plants:
Balakovskaya (Balakovo, Saratov region - four reactors);
Novovoronezh (Novovoronezh, Voronezh region - three reactors);
Kurskaya (Kurchatov, Kursk region - four reactors);
Smolenskaya (Desnogorsk, Smolensk region - three reactors);
Kalininskaya (Udomlya city, Tver region - two reactors);
Kola (Polyarnye Zori, Murmansk region - four reactors);
Beloyarskaya (Zarechny, Sverdlovsk region - one reactor);
Bilibinskaya (village of Bilibino, Magadan region - four reactors). (In parentheses the number of operating reactors is indicated. - A.K.)
Obninsk NPP in Kaluga region is not industrial and operates as an experimental station of a scientific center.
The oldest power unit has been in operation since 1971 at the Novovoronezh NPP, the youngest - since 1993 in Balakovo. The estimated service life of all stations is 30 years. However, a preliminary check of the power units showed that they are all safe and their operation can be continued.
Development prospects nuclear energy of Russia are defined by the Federal Target Program "Development of the Nuclear Energy Industry Complex of Russia for 2007-2010 and for the Future until 2015" and other documents
According to these programs, by 2025, the share of electricity generated at the country's nuclear power plants should increase from 16 to 25%, and 26 new power units will be built.

Currently, work is being carried out at the following facilities:

Rostov NPP, power unit No. 2, commissioning plan - 2009;
- Kalinin NPP, power unit No. 4, commissioning plan - 2011;
- Beloyarsk NPP, power unit No. 4 (BN-800), commissioning plan - 2012;
- Novovoronezh NPP-2, power units No. 1, 2, commissioning plan - 2012 and 2013;
- Leningrad NPP-2, power units No. 1 and 2, commissioning plan - 2013 and 2014.
- The selection of sites for the location of Seversk NPP (Tomsk region), Central NPP (Kostroma region), Baltic NPP (Kaliningrad region), Yuzhnouralsk NPP (Chelyabinsk region) is being finalized.

Balakovo NPP

Location: Saratov region

Balakovo NPP is the largest electricity producer in Russia. It produces more than 30 billion kWh of electricity annually (more than any other nuclear, thermal and hydroelectric power plant in the country). The Balakovo NPP provides a quarter of the electricity production in the Volga Federal District and a fifth of the output of all nuclear power plants in the country. Its electricity is reliably provided to consumers in the Volga region (76% of the electricity it supplies), the Center (13%), the Urals (8%) and Siberia (3%). Electricity from the Balakovo NPP is the cheapest among all nuclear power plants and thermal power plants in Russia. The installed capacity utilization factor (IUR) at the Balakovo NPP is more than 80 percent.
Balakovo NPP is a recognized leader in the nuclear power industry in Russia; it has repeatedly been awarded the title “Best NPP in Russia” (based on work results in 1995, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007). Since 2002, the Balakovo nuclear power plant has the status of a branch of OJSC Concern Energoatom (before the corporatization of the FSUE Concern Rosenergoatom) of the Federal Agency (until March 2004 - the Ministry of the Russian Federation) for Atomic Energy.
The main thing in the activities of the NPP management is to ensure and improve safety during operation, protect the environment from the influence technological process, reducing costs in the production of electricity, improving the social protection of personnel, increasing the contribution of the station to the socio-economic development of the region.

Beloyarsk NPP

Location: Sverdlovsk region, Zarechny
Total power of 1 block: 600 MW
Beloyarsk NPP named after. I.V. Kurchatova is the first-born of the large nuclear power industry of the USSR. The station is located in the Urals.
Three power units were built at the Beloyarsk NPP: two with thermal neutron reactors and one with a fast neutron reactor.
Power unit 1 with the AMB-100 reactor with a capacity of 100 MW was stopped in 1981, power unit 2 with the AMB-200 reactor with a power of 200 MW was stopped in 1989. The fuel from the reactors was unloaded and is in long-term storage in special cooling pools located in the same building with the reactors .
The third power unit with the BN-600 reactor is currently in operation electrical power 600 MW, commissioned in April 1980, is the world's first power unit industrial scale with a fast neutron reactor.

Bilibino NPP

Location: Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Bilibino
Total power of 3 units: 48 MW
Bilibino NPP is the central link in the Chaun-Bilibino energy hub and is connected by a 110 kV overhead line to the Chaunskaya CHPP (Pevek) and the Chersky substation (Cape Verde). In addition to these overhead lines, there is a network of 35 kV overhead lines, through which power supply is provided to local consumers. The station produces both electrical and thermal energy, which goes to the heat supply of the city of Bilibino. Bilibino NPP is the first nuclear power plant beyond the Arctic Circle and the only one in the permafrost zone. In 2005, the station operated at 35% of its installed capacity, in 2006 - 32.5%.

The source of household, drinking and technical water supply for the Bilibino NPP is the reservoir on the Bol stream. Ponneurgen, located three kilometers east of the industrial site. The reservoir meets the water needs of the industrial site, the city of Bilibino and other nuclear power plant facilities and is retained by an earth dam.

Rostov (Volgodonsk) NPP

Location: Rostov region, Volgodonsk
Total capacity of 4 units: 4000 MW
The first stone on construction site The Volgodonsk NPP was founded on October 28, 1977. Full-scale construction of the station, originally called Volgodonskaya, began in 1979 after a thorough study of seven possible sites.
The VVER-1000 pressurized water power reactor was selected for installation at the Rostov NPP. Reactors of this type are among the safest and are widely used at nuclear power plants in Russia and Ukraine - for many years they have been operating reliably at Balakovskaya (4 units), Novovoronezhskaya (1 unit), Kalininskaya (1 unit), Zaporozhye (6 units), Yuzhno -Ukrainian (1 unit), Khmelnitsky (2 units) and Rivne (1 unit) nuclear power plants, having proven their safety and efficiency. Russian VVER-1000 reactors are also installed at the operating Kozloduy NPP (Bulgaria, 2 units) and the Temelin NPP under construction (Czech Republic, 2 units). Work began on the construction of a nuclear power plant with VVER-1000 in Iran, and China and India became actively interested in Russian reactors.
Reactors of a similar type are used at most nuclear power plants in the world.
During the construction of the Rostov NPP, inspections of the progress of its construction were carried out repeatedly, documenting the quality of the work performed.
In the wake of well-known post-Chernobyl sentiments, the Rostov Regional Council of People's Deputies in June 1990. adopted a decision that states: “... consider the construction of a nuclear power plant on the territory Rostov region on modern stage unacceptable."
Based on the decision of the regional Council, the construction of the Rostov NPP was suspended by the minutes of the meeting with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR I. S. Silaev and the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR L. D. Ryabev on August 29, 1990. In the same protocol, the State Committee for Nature Protection was ordered to ensure environmental assessment design and constructed facilities of the Rostov NPP in accordance with the resolution of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
In pursuance of this decision, an additional section of the Rostov NPP project on the environmental safety of the plant was developed - “Assessment of the impact of RosNPP on environment(EIA)", which was transferred in 1992 to the Ministry of Environment and natural resources RF for conducting the State Environmental Expertise.
Based on a comprehensive analysis of design and other materials, the State Environmental Expert Commission came to the conclusion about the environmental safety of the Rostov NPP. The positive conclusion of the State Expertise is a legal basis for resuming construction of the station. On July 21, 1998, this was recognized by the Resolution of the Legislative Assembly of the Rostov Region. Currently, the 1st and 2nd power units of the Rostov NPP are scheduled for startup in accordance with the Nuclear Energy Development Program approved by the Government of the Russian Federation in July 1998 Russian Federation for 1998-2005 and for the period until 2010.

Kalinin NPP

Location: Tver region, Udomlya

In the mid-70s of the 20th century, when the construction of a nuclear power plant began in the quiet patriarchal Udomlya, the rapid development of the city began. In 1981, the village became a city of district subordination, and in 1986 of regional subordination.
Over the 30 years of construction and operation of the KNPP, a modern city was built among picturesque lakes and forests: with developed infrastructure, an education and medical care system, a network of cultural and educational institutions, an excellent base for physical education and sports, good conditions for the development of small and medium-sized businesses.
Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant provides electricity largest regions central part of Russia. Over 22 years of operation, the station generated over 250 billion kWh of electricity.
The share of electricity generated at KNPP is about 60 percent of its total production in the Tver region. 25 percent commercial products produced in the region accounts for the share Kalinin NPP.
The commissioning of the third power unit provided additional revenues to the region in the form of property taxes and contributions to the 30-kilometer zone in the amount of 2 billion rubles. In addition, during the completion of power unit No. 3, Energoatom Concern OJSC (before the corporatization of the FSUE Rosenergoatom Concern) invested in the economy and social sphere Tver region more than 1.5 billion rubles.
Based on the results of 2002, Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant was awarded the title “Best Nuclear Power Plant in Russia”. In 2003 and 2004, KNPP was in second place.
4th power unit
Construction of the second stage of the Kalinin NPP, which includes power units No. 3 and No. 4 with the VVER-1000 reactor, began in 1984.
By order of the Ministry of Atomic Energy and Industry in 1991, the construction of power unit No. 4 was suspended and mothballed at 20 percent construction readiness. And only almost a decade later, the question of the need to resume construction of the block was raised again. The developing economy of Russia required the introduction of new generating capacities.

Kola NPP

Location: Murmansk region, Polyarnye Zori
Total capacity of 4 units: 1760 MW

The history of the construction of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant began in the 60s of the twentieth century. The rapid development of industry in the region required additional energy resources. The Kola Peninsula had no other sources of electricity except hydro resources, which were almost completely already used. A decision was made to build the first nuclear power plant in the Arctic.
During survey work in 1963, a site for the construction of a nuclear power plant was selected on the shore of Lake Imandra. 1967 - The USSR State Construction Committee approved the design assignment for the construction of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant. On May 18, 1969, the first cubic meter of concrete was laid into the base of the station. In 1968, Alexander Romanovich Belov, a candidate of technical sciences, three-time winner of the USSR State Prize, a manager with extensive economic experience, was appointed director of the station under construction. Alexander Stepanovich Andrushechko assumed the position of Head of the Construction Department.
The intense and well-coordinated work of the entire team of builders, installers, adjusters and operators was crowned with success: on June 29, 1973, the first power unit of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant was launched.
In the year of its launch, the station generated 1 billion kWh of electricity.
Construction of power units continued at a rapid pace. On December 8, 1974, the second power unit was launched, on March 24, 1981 - the third and on October 11, 1984 - the fourth.
Today, the main supplier of electricity for the Murmansk region and Karelia is the Kola Nuclear Power Plant. The nuclear power plant is located 200 kilometers south of Murmansk on the shore of Lake Imandra, one of the largest and most picturesque lakes in Northern Europe. Currently, the station operates 4 power units with a capacity of 440 MW each, which is about 50% of the total installed capacity of the region. The station can generate more than 12 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. Generating electricity at a nuclear power plant annually releases millions of tons of organic fuel, eliminating the harmful effects of combustion products on the environment. Today, the capacities of the Kola NPP are not fully utilized, which creates the prerequisites for the development of industry in the region.

NPP awards:
2006 Best NPP in the field of safety;
2006 2nd place in the competition "Best NPP at the end of the year";
2007 2nd place in the competition "Best NPP at the end of the year";
2008 Best NPP in the field of safety culture;
2008 2nd place in the competition "Best NPP at the end of the year."

Kursk NPP

Location: Kursk region Kurchatov
Total capacity of 4 units: 4000 MW

The Kursk nuclear power plant is located 40 kilometers west of the city of Kursk, on the banks of the Seim River. The town of Kurchatov is 3 km from the station.
The decision to build the Kursk nuclear power plant was made in the mid-60s. Construction began in 1971. The need for construction was caused by the rapidly developing industrial and economic complex of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (Staro-Oskol and Mikhailovsky mining and processing plants and others industrial enterprises region). General project manager: Moscow branch of Atomenergoproekt. Chief designer reactor: Institute NIKIET, Moscow. Scientific supervisors: Russian Scientific Center “Kurchatov Institute”. The construction of the 1st and 2nd stages was carried out by the Construction Department of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (now LLC Kurskatomenergostroy Association).
The Kursk nuclear power plant is a single-circuit plant: the steam supplied to the turbines is generated directly in the reactor during the boiling of the coolant passing through it. Ordinary purified water circulating in a closed circuit is used as a coolant. Water from the cooling pond is used to cool the exhaust steam in the turbine condensers. The surface area of ​​the reservoir is 21.5 km2.
As part of the two operating stages of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, 4 RBMK-1000 power units (1-4 power units) are in operation, and the 3rd stage is under construction.
The installed capacity of each power unit is 1,000 MW (electric). The power units were put into operation: the 1st power unit - in 1976, the 2nd - in 1979, the 3rd - in 1983, the 4th - in 1985.
The Kursk nuclear power plant is one of the top three nuclear power plants of equal power in the country, and in terms of the volume of electricity generated, it is one of the top four power plants of all types in Russia, including, in addition to the Balakovo and Leningrad nuclear power plants, the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric station.
The Kursk nuclear power plant is the most important node of the Unified Energy System of Russia. The main consumer is the Center energy system, which covers 19 regions of the Central Federal District. The share of the Kursk nuclear power plant in the installed capacity of all power plants in the Black Earth Region is 52%. It provides electricity to 90% of industrial enterprises in the Kursk region.
In May 2008, the cooling reservoir of the III stage of the Kursk NPP was put into operation and is intended to meet the technical water needs of power unit No. 5 under construction and power unit No. 6 planned for construction. The reservoir is also expected to be used during the operation of a pumped storage power plant, the construction of which is provided for by the current energy programs of the Government of the Russian Federation .
The new reservoir holds about 50 million cubic meters of water. Water from cooling ponds of nuclear power plants is involved in the technological process of electricity production. Its use ensures the operation of heat exchange equipment and technical systems protection of nuclear power plants and does not harm the environment.

Leningrad NPP

Location: Leningrad region, Sosnovy Bor
Total capacity of 4 units: 4000 MW

The station includes 4 power units with an electrical capacity of 1000 MW each, the 1st and 2nd power units (first stage) are located approximately 5 km southwest of the city of Sosnovy Bor, 3rd and 4th power units (second stage) are located two kilometers to the west.
The grandeur of this structure can be judged by the fact that the construction volume of only one main building of the first stage of the station is 1,200,000 m3, the height of the reactor block reaches 56 m, and the length of the main facade is more than 400 m.

The Leningrad NPP was founded on July 6, 1967. On December 23, 1973, members of the State Acceptance Commission accepted the first power unit into operation. In 1975, the second unit of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant was launched and construction of the second stage of the station began. Work on the construction of the second stage began on May 10, 1975. The first installation work on the third block were started on February 1, 1977.
On December 26, 1980, at 8:30 p.m., the physical start-up of the reactor of the fourth unit was carried out, and on February 9, 1981, shortly before the opening of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, the fourth power unit was put under industrial load.
Over the years of successful operation, and in 2002 LNPP will celebrate its 30th anniversary, the station has generated over 600 billion kWh. electricity - and this is a record figure for a power plant in Europe.
Each power unit of the station includes the following main equipment:
RBMK reactor with circulation loop and auxiliary systems;
2 turbine units type K-500-65/3000 with steam and condensate-feed path;
2 generators type TVV-500-2. .
The reactor and its auxiliary systems are housed in separate buildings. The machine room is common to 2 power units. Auxiliary workshops and systems for the two power units are common and are geographically located near each of the lines (2 power units) of the station.
The total area occupied by the Leningrad NPP is 454 hectares.

Novovoronezh NPP

Location: Voronezh region, Novovoronezh
Total capacity of 3 units: 1880 MW

The decision to build a nuclear power plant was made in May 1957.
September 1964 - power start-up of the unit;
December 1964 - bringing the unit’s capacity up to design (210 MW);
January 1966 - development of an increased power level (240 MW);
December 1969 - testing and operation of the power unit at a capacity of up to 280 MW.
With the launch of the first unit of the Novovoronezh NPP on September 30, 1964, the countdown in the history of nuclear energy in our country and European countries began. Although the power of the power unit, according to modern ideas, was small, at the level of that time it was the most powerful nuclear power unit in the world.
1 power unit of the Novovoronezh NPP, created as a pilot industrial unit, clearly demonstrated the advantages of using nuclear energy, reliability and safety of NPP operation
On December 30, 1969, the 2nd power unit of the Novovoronezh NPP was put into operation. The reactor installation for power unit 2 (VVER-365) was the basis for the transition to the construction of serial units with VVER.
In December 1971, the third power unit was launched.
In 1972, power unit No. 3 reached its design capacity, and in December the power start-up of the next unit, the fourth unit, was carried out.
A new page in the history of the station began - the construction of the country's first power unit with a VVER-1000 reactor, which gave power on May 31, 1980.
A series of units with VVER-440 reactor units were built at the Kola, Armenian, Rivne NPPs, as well as abroad - in Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Finland. The main power unit No. 5 became serial for the South Ukrainian, Kalinin, Zaporozhye, Balakovo, Rostov NPPs, as well as for the Kozloduy NPP in Bulgaria.
Meanwhile, the design operation period of the first two power units of the nuclear power plant was ending. In August 1984, after the expiration of the commercial life of the reactor vessel, the first unit was shut down to carry out reconstruction and modernization work.
In 1986, after an accident at Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the safety concept of USSR nuclear power plants was revised and work on modernizing unit No. 1 was stopped.
Based on existing operating experience, the technical policy of the Novovoronezh NPP administration for a long time was associated with the issues of modernization and reconstruction of units 3 and 4; the design operation period was also approaching completion. Thanks to great job for the modernization of systems and equipment aimed at improving safety, by the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy in 2001-2002. a decision was made to extend the service life of units 3 and 4 for 15 years.

Smolensk NPP

Location: Smolensk region, Desnogorsk
Total capacity of 3 units: 3000 MW

Every year, the station supplies the energy system with an average of 20 billion kWh of electricity, which is 13% of the electricity generated by the country's ten nuclear power plants.
Today SAES is the largest city-forming enterprise in the Smolensk region, the share of revenues in the regional budget is more than 30%.
There are three power units with RBMK-1000 uranium-graphite channel reactors of the second and third generation in commercial operation at the SAPP.
The first power unit was put into operation in 1982, the second in 1985, and the third in 1990.
The electric power of each power unit is 1000 MW, the thermal power is 3200 MW.
In 2007, the Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant was the first among Russian nuclear power plants to receive an international certificate of compliance of the quality management system with the ISO 9001:2000 standard.
In order to extend the operating life of the Smolensk NPP, planned and routine repairs are being carried out at the station in stages, with a large volume of work on the reconstruction and modernization of equipment being carried out.
All power units are equipped with an accident localization system that eliminates the release of radioactive substances into the environment.
When preparing the material, information from the site rosenergoatom.ru was used

civil defense

Yesterday, residents of Saratov, Samara and a number of other regions were gripped by panic, which arose due to rumors of a major accident at the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant (Saratov region). In fact, on the night of November 4, an emergency situation occurred at the nuclear power plant that often happens: the emergency protection at the power unit was activated due to a ruptured water pipe. But the management of the station and the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations did not explain to the population in a timely manner what had happened. As a result, iodine disappeared from pharmacies, dozens of enterprises stopped, hundreds of people moved away from the nuclear power plant, fearing radiation.

The first reports of an emergency situation at the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant (BalAES) appeared on the morning of November 4. Center public information BalNPP reported that current repairs of the feed pipe pipeline of the fourth steam generator are being carried out at power unit #2. According to the message, the power unit was stopped on November 4 at 1.24 am, its restart is planned to take place at 10 pm on November 5. But the residents of Balakovo did not believe in the ongoing repairs, which must begin at two o’clock in the morning. By mid-day, most of the city of almost 200,000 people was sure that there had been an accident at the station with the release of radiation.

“It was horror and the end of the world,” Anna Vinogradova, head of the Balakovo Society for Nature Conservation, shared her impressions with a Kommersant correspondent. “The whole city went crazy.” The bosses told their subordinates about the accident, and they called their families. All phones were busy. People advised each other to drink vodka, iodine and under no circumstances use tap water.

When the website http://aesbalakovo.narod.ru, promptly created by some independent journalists, appeared on the Internet, panic completely captured Balakovo.

The website, in particular, stated: “There was an accident at the BalNPP. As a result of the incident, 4 workers died, another 18 received burns of varying severity. The situation is critical.”

In several kindergartens, teachers, on orders from directors, gave children potassium iodide tablets. By evening, stocks of iodine, iodomarin and other iodine-containing drugs had disappeared from local pharmacies. In at least ten villages of the Balakovo region, peasants refused to turn their livestock out to pasture. A similar situation has developed in the Saratov, Samara, Penza regions, in part of the Nizhny Novgorod region and Mordovia. Everywhere people stocked up on iodine and alcohol, tried to leave the area that they thought might already be contaminated, and enterprises stopped because their directors could not keep workers who were eager to save their families.

On November 4 and 5, the editorial offices of regional newspapers in Saratov withstood a real barrage of calls from the population. A Kommersant correspondent managed to talk to several callers.

“I went to the market in the morning, they said that a reactor exploded at a nuclear power plant,” Anna Samokhina, a resident of the city of Petrovsk, shouted into the phone. “I ran home, called the administration, asked what to do, and they told me: lay down with your feet in front of the explosion!”

Several circumstances simultaneously worked to incite panic. On November 3, a planned exercise of the Ministry of Emergency Situations took place in the area of ​​the nuclear power plant. The city was notified about them, but no one talked about the nature of the exercises. The generals who arrived for the exercises on the afternoon of November 4, in full force, attended a concert of patriotic songs, which took place in the cultural center in the city center. The sight of a dozen black Volgas with military license plates did not add optimism to anyone in Balakovo. And most importantly, none of the officials considered it necessary to speak to the population and tell them what happened on the night of November 3-4 at the nuclear power plant. Only on the evening of November 4, the head of the Balakovo Ministry of Emergency Situations, Lieutenant Colonel Romanenko, appeared on the air of the local television company Free Television. He demanded that residents stop panicking, but did not say a word about the incident at the BalNPP. This only complicated the situation.

“The city has long been heated by a discussion about the construction of the fifth and sixth power units, which is being led by the administration and environmentalists,” says Anna Vinogradova. “There had to be a way out for all this accumulated negativity.” So it happened. I think that one of the station workers came home and told some neighbors and others. And so it began.

Since the morning of November 5, people from all over the Volga region have been trying to find out by phone from specialists how much iodine they should take (see help). The first cases of iodine poisoning appeared on the same day.

“We have already recorded three cases,” the attendant at the ambulance station in Balakovo told Kommersant. “Two elderly women and a schoolboy.” Their condition is satisfactory, only the temperature is high and they feel sick all the time. Please tell us through the newspaper not to mix iodine and vodka. It will be very bad. Since you’ve bought up all the iodine, let them smear it on the thyroid gland; this will have more benefits: prevention of cancerous tumors.

Seven iodine poisonings were recorded yesterday in Samara. As reported at the city ambulance station, one of the victims is a 52-year-old woman: “She bought an iodine solution for external use at a pharmacy, dissolved the iodine in water and drank the liquid, which caused burns to her larynx.”

It was only in the middle of the day on November 5 that officials finally explained what had happened at the nuclear power plant. The NPP Public Information Center issued a statement saying that a leak was discovered in the pipeline that supplies water to the steam generators of the second power unit. At 1.24 on November 4, due to this leak, the emergency protection of the power unit was activated and it was shut down.

“This is a common situation that happens at any nuclear power plant several times a year,” said Nikolai Shingarev, a representative of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, yesterday. “The automation switched off the power unit due to malfunctions that do not relate to the reactor.”

As Kommersant was explained in the NPP Safety Supervision Department of the Volzhsky Directorate of Rostekhnadzor, the pipe rupture has nothing to do with the reactor core. The emergency occurred in the secondary circuit water pipe, through which the steam generator is supplied pure water. The water leaking from the pipe shorted the electrical terminals of the performance regulators of the main pumps pumping water to the steam generator, and the water level in the steam generator decreased. In this regard, the emergency protection was activated - the automation lowered safety rods into the reactor, absorbing the flow of neutrons, thus stopping the process and shutting down the reactor.

Nuclear scientists claim that there was not even an accident as such - only an emergency situation arose. “The automatic protection system worked instantly,” they claim. “The fuel assembly housing did not melt, the reactor containment shell did not collapse, there was no release of radioactive steam from the steam generator, circuit #1, through which water “contaminated” with uranium circulates, did not depressurize.” The problems, according to them, arose in the so-called civil part of the nuclear power plant, where there is no radiation at all. The leaked water from the secondary circuit was absolutely clean - cleaner than that supplied to the household water supply network, so there was no reason for concern.

The chief engineer of the BalNPP, Viktor Ignatov, confirmed this at an emergency press conference yesterday: “There was no radiation release. The reason for the shutdown of the power unit was a crack in the pipeline of the steam generator power supply unit. The current repair of the unit has been completed. Today it will gradually be put into operation. On the eve of the incident, on November 3, "planned civil defense and emergency exercises with the evacuation of personnel were taking place at the station. The coincidence of events gave rise to panic."

“I myself am a Chernobyl survivor and would be the first to scream if something happened to you,” said Alexander Rabadanov, Minister of Civil Defense and Emergency Situations of the Saratov Region. “I have information that someone is using the good name of our ministry and posing as civil defense workers and emergency situations, recommended that people wear cotton-gauze bandages and drink iodine. Apparently, there are forces interested in panic, perhaps pursuing political goals."

As the head of the representative office of the international environmental organization Bellona in Murmansk, Andrei Zolotkov, who identified himself as an expert on icebreaker nuclear reactors, told Kommersant, “theoretically, the danger still remains.” “The problem is that even a stopped reactor continues to operate as if by inertia - so-called residual heat release occurs. The duration of this process depends on how long and under what load the reactor operated before the accident: residual heat release can take from several hours to several days . All this time, the fuel assembly housing must be forcibly cooled. Since the second circuit is not working, water must be supplied through an emergency system, which directly communicates with the first, contaminated circuit. Accordingly, during the entire time until the reactor cools down, waste radioactive water flows out To collect it, there are special sealed containers at each nuclear power plant, but their possibilities are not unlimited,” says Mr. Zolotkov.

The Kommersant correspondent’s simple questions about whether the emergency cooling of the second unit has been completed, how much space is left for radioactive water in the containers and whether its emergency discharge (with all the consequences) can be carried out, for some reason unbalanced the previously friendly employee of the BalNPP press service. “There is no danger, and that’s all we would like to tell the media,” he shouted, not even wanting to introduce himself. Technical issues are not relevant to your work and we will only respond to them upon written request."

Last night, Balakovo ecologists and the official website of the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant simultaneously gave the same indicators of the level of radiation in the atmosphere. In Balakovo it fluctuates between 8 and 13 microroentgens per hour. In Saratov, according to specialists from the Radon enterprise, which disposes of radioactive substances, it is 11 microroentgens per hour. Exceeding the norm starts from 20 microroentgens per hour.

Nevertheless, yesterday Sergei Kiriyenko, the presidential envoy to the Volga Federal District, arrived in the Saratov region. He explained that the decision to travel was made due to the fact that, despite the competent authorities’ statement about the complete safety of Balakov’s facilities, panic continues among residents of the region. “The plenipotentiary representative went to the region to personally prove that nothing terrible happened here,” noted the office of plenipotentiary representative Kiriyenko.

ANDREY KOZENKO, Saratov; SERGEY Kommersant-GUBANOV, Balakovo; SERGEY J-MASHKIN

Address: 413800 Saratov region, Balakovo-26, Balakovo NPP.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (845 70) 20091, 23793 Fax: (845 70) 26209

Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant is one of the largest nuclear power plants in Russia. It is located on the left bank of the Saratov reservoir of the Volga River at a distance of 900 km southeast of Moscow. The first stage of the nuclear power plant includes four unified power units with a total installed electrical capacity of 4000 MW. They were built according to the most modern designs - water-cooled water reactors of the VVER type, and these are the ones installed at the station and operate reliably all over the world.

The history of the Balakovo NPP goes back to the 70s, when work began in the Volga region to select a site for the construction of a future powerful nuclear power plant capable of covering the electricity shortage that had emerged in the region. Construction began on October 28, 1977.

The launch of the first power unit took place on December 28, 1985, in 1987 the second power unit produced its first kilowatt-hours of electricity in 1988 - the third, the fourth came into operation in 1993. Balakovo NPP is state enterprise, is part of the Rosenergoatom concern of the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy, operates reliably and stably, improving all key indicators every year. The company produces the cheapest electricity among nuclear and thermal power plants in the Russian Federation. In 2000, the nuclear power plant generated more than 27.5 billion kWh. electricity - the highest figure in the country among energy producers. Ten regions and autonomous republics of Russia are connected to it by power lines. It provides reliable and stable power supply to consumers in the Volga region, Center, Urals and Siberia.

Key indicators of NPP operational reliability, defined by national and international standards and regulations, are consistently at a high level. The Balakovo NPP is one of the ten “cleanest” nuclear power plants in the world in terms of radiation. The quality system created at the enterprise in last years, is an effective means of ensuring the required level of safety and reliability of nuclear power plants with high economic indicators.

Based on the results of 1999 and 2000, Balakovo NPP was recognized as the “Best station in Russia”. The station has received such a high title before.

Among the large enterprises of the Saratov region, the Balakovo nuclear power plant is one of the most environmentally friendly. At the nuclear power plant and in the area where it is located, constant monitoring is carried out to monitor the impact of the technological process on the environment. It is carried out by state supervisory authorities and the department radiation safety Balakovo NPP. The surveillance zone covers an area with a radius of 30 km. Data from long-term measurements allow us to conclude that the operation of nuclear power plants does not affect negative influence on the environment. Uncontrolled environmental impact harmful substances, resulting from production process, excluded by the design and the achieved high level of operation. The radiation situation in the city of Balakovo and in the area where the nuclear power plant is located is characterized by values ​​from 8 to 15 microroentgen/hour, which corresponds to the level of natural background values ​​characteristic of the European part of the country, and to the level that was there before the construction of the station.

At Balakovo NPP, special importance is attached to the human factor as the most important component of safety. The high safety culture of Balakovo nuclear workers has been repeatedly noted by experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO). In terms of educational level, the station's personnel occupy a leading position among the largest enterprises in the region. Almost 30 percent of the four and a half thousand people employed in primary production have higher education, and a quarter have secondary specialized education. Continuous improvement of personnel qualifications is one of the main tasks of the plant management, which is closely related to issues of safety and reliable operation of nuclear power plants.

The company has its own personnel training center (PTC), equipped with the most modern educational equipment, including a unique set of simulators. On a full-scale simulator - a complete analogue of a real power reactor control panel (MSC) - emergency situations in the operation of a power unit and equipment failures are simulated and reproduced under conditions as close as possible to real ones. The functional-analytical simulator allows you to visually study the processes occurring inside the reactor. Simulators have significantly increased professional level control room personnel, their psychological stability and, as a result, significantly reduced the likelihood of errors when performing everyday work. All other categories of station employees also undergo retraining at the training center on a regular schedule.

To improve the safety and quality of operation at the Balakovo NPP, international experience is widely used. The station takes an active part in WANO programs and cooperates with foreign nuclear power plants and companies. For more than 10 years, bilateral partnerships with Biblis NPP (Germany) and Paluel NPP (France), aimed at solving specific production problems, have been successfully and dynamically developing.

The current appearance of Balakov - modern and beautiful city- it is impossible to imagine without residential neighborhoods, educational, cultural and sports institutions built under the title of nuclear power plant.

The successful operation of the station allows it to make a great contribution to solving social problems of the Saratov region and, above all, Balakovo municipality. The city and region receive considerable funds in the form of taxes to replenish their budgets. For example, for 9 months of 2001, 92 million rubles were transferred to the city budget, and 107 million rubles to the regional budget. During the same time Pension Fund received 84 million rubles from the station. Every third ruble in the pensions of Balakovo residents is a ruble received from the nuclear power plant! The enterprise makes contributions to a special off-budget investment fund, the funds of which go to social development 30-kilometer zone around the nuclear power plant. This is tens of millions of rubles annually. With the help of the fund, the following were built: a railway station, which became a decoration of the city; upward pumping station on the banks of the shipping canal, which radically solved the problem of cold water supply to apartments on the upper floors of houses in new microdistricts; therapeutic building with 240 beds; recruiting station; water stadium and much more.

The station plays a significant role in the cultural and sports life of the city. The sports and recreation center "Sportex" of the Balakovo nuclear power plant has long become the sports center of Balakovo. Hundreds of adults and young Balakovo residents are involved in amateur art groups, studios and sports sections of the Dialogue leisure center, and children's clubs "Display" and "Electronic" of the trade union committee of the enterprise.

Creative teams and athletes of the Balakovo NPP have more than once adequately represented the city at regional and Russian competitions and competitions. Great success The women's volleyball team of the Balakovo NPP Super League achieved the Russian Cup.

Children's health camp "Lazurny" has been repeatedly awarded good organization children's recreation by regional and city administrations.

The nuclear power plant takes part in all city events and has long been involved in charitable activities.

The NPP Public Information Center, located in the 7th microdistrict, is one of the attractions of Balakovo - it is visited with interest by delegations and guests coming to the city.

In short, the nuclear power plant does not stand aloof from city life, but actively participates in it. It cannot be any other way: nuclear scientists are residents of Balakovo and want the city’s problems to be successfully resolved. So that every year the city becomes better and more beautiful.

The Balakovo nuclear power plant is the energy heart of the Volga region. The entire increase in electricity production in the region last year was due to nuclear power plants. For 9 months of 2001, the station has already produced 19.35 billion kW/hour of electricity. The Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant is not only about light in homes and working machines in enterprises. A nuclear power plant is one of those large industrial enterprises that form the economic basis of the state. In the form of taxes alone, the station transferred 230 million rubles to the federal budget for 9 months of this year. And these are salaries for teachers, doctors, and other categories of workers budgetary sphere, solving other social problems even where they have not heard of the Balakovo NPP. But it exists - a nuclear power plant of the 21st century. And much more can be done to ensure that the beginning of the new millennium is included in the history books as a time of rapid and dynamic growth of the Russian economy.

Materials used: - Kamalutdinov R. Balakovo NPP: yesterday, today, tomorrow // Business Saratov. 2001. No. 10 - Sergeeva M. Balakovo nuclear: stability, reliability, high technology // Business. 1998. No. 7.

In the Volga region electric power industry is represented by three types of power plants: hydroelectric power plants, thermal and nuclear.

The most powerful hydroelectric power stations of the Volga cascade are located on the territory of the region: Volzhskaya near the city of Zhigulevsk (capacity 2.3 million kW, average annual electricity generation 11 billion kW/h), Saratovskaya near the city of Balakovo (capacity 1.3 million kW, average annual generation 5, 4 billion kW/h), Volgograd (capacity 2.53 million kW, average annual output 11.1 billion kW/h), Nizhnekamsk (capacity 1.08 million kW). It is possible to build the Perevoloskaya hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 2.4 million kW, designed both to cover peak loads and to generate additional electricity.

According to preliminary estimates, the total electricity generation at all hydroelectric power stations in the Volga region could amount to more than 30 billion kW/h per year.

Hydroelectric power stations of the Volga region play big role in covering peak loads in the energy system of the European part of the country.

There are a number of powerful thermal stations in the region, located in centers of large consumption of heat and electricity (centers of the petrochemical industry and oil refining). The share of thermal power plants in the total electricity production is approximately 3/5. One of the largest is the state district power station in the Republic of Tatarstan (capacity 2.4 million kW), running on gas.

Electricity production in the Volga region will increase due to the commissioning of new capacities at the Nizhnekamsk hydroelectric station and the Balakovo nuclear power plant. Electricity from the Volga region is transmitted via power lines to the Donbass, the Urals, and from the Nizhnekamsk hydroelectric station to Cheboksary and Nizhny Novgorod. Electricity is also transmitted from Zainskaya and Botkinskaya GRES.

The development of oil refining and organic synthesis chemistry in the area required the creation of powerful thermal power engineering.

For years, work has been underway on the construction of the Leningrad NPP-2. Thus, in 2015 it is planned to begin work on the construction of the second stage of the Leningrad NPP-2. What is the reason for the constant increase in the capacity of nuclear power plants in Leningrad region? What reasons influence this process? Name at least two reasons of a socio-economic nature.

2.What are the differences between groundwater and interstratal water?
3.Give a comparative description of lowland and mountain rivers.
4.What is a river system called?
5.Describe how old lakes and lakes of volcanic origin are formed.
6.What is a glacier?
7.What is a moraine?

b) Ukraine

c) Germany

d) Great Britain.

2. The basis of the country's industry Western Europe are:

A) mining industry

b) production of mineral fertilizers

c) copper smelting

d) mechanical engineering.

3. Of the listed countries, the European Union includes:

a) Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro

b) Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine,

c) Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia

d) Albania, Croatia.

4. Specializes in growing barley and hops:

a) Germany

b) Netherlands

c) France

d) Italy.

5. The largest share of Russian export products falls on:

a) fuel and energy raw materials

b) mechanical engineering products

d) food.

6. Crop production is a leading industry Agriculture:

a) Germany

b) Italy

In Great Britain

d) Switzerland.

a) Spain

b) Ukraine

c) France

d) Poland.

8. The population of most European countries is characterized by:

a) the first type of reproduction, high performance population density and level of urbanization

b) second type of reproduction, high population density

c) first type of reproduction, low level of urbanization

d) the second type of reproduction, low population density and level of urbanization.

9. Of the listed countries that are not part of European Union:

a) Norway, Iceland

b) Germany, France

c) Sweden, Ireland

d) Slovakia, Slovenia.

10. Potatoes are the main export crop:

a) Ukraine

b) Germany

c) Romania

d) Belarus.

11. The largest share of Moldova’s export products falls on:

a) chemical products

b) mechanical engineering products

c) agricultural products

d) fish and canned fish.

12. Largest specific gravity electricity generated at nuclear power plants in

a) Poland

b) Norway

c) Iceland

d) France.

13. Determine the correctness of the above statement: “Experts define the demographic situation in Russia as a crisis due to a natural decrease in the population.”

14. Determine the correctness of the above statement: “France ranks first in the world in the number of foreign tourists visiting the country annually.”

15. Read the text and determine which European country we are talking about: “This is a country of volcanoes, geysers and glaciers. Even the name of the country itself means “ice country”.

16. Read the text and determine the name of one of the European capitals: “This is one of the largest financial, commercial and cultural centers not only in Europe, but throughout the world. The city is often called the “Venice of the North”. The name of the city literally translates as “dam on the Amstel River.”

17. Establish a correspondence between seaports and countries:

a) Liverpool, Glasgow, Bristol

b) Rostock, Wismar, Lubeck, Kiel

c) Gdansk, Gdynia, Szczecin

d) Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Tarragona.

1) Poland;

2) Germany;

3) Netherlands;

4) Great Britain;

5) Spain.

18. Establish a correspondence between tourism centers and countries:

a) Yaroslavl, Zagorsk, Kostroma

b) Krakow, Sopot, Zielona Gora

c) Karlovy Vary, Prague

d) Zurich, Geneva.

1) France;

2) Russia;

3) Poland;

4) Switzerland;

19. Establish the sequence of countries by area, starting with the largest:

a) Estonia

b) Andorra

c) Romania