27 Sep (NucNet): Kalinin-4 has become the 33rd nuclear reactor unit in Russia to enter commercial operation, state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom has said.
Rosatom said a commissioning ceremony was held on 25 September 2012 at the Kalinin nuclear power station, about 200 kilometres north-west of Moscow, in Tver Oblast near the town of Udomlya.
Rosatom director-general Sergei Kiriyenko said in a statement that Kalinin-4 was completed on schedule and for about 240 million US dollars (USD) (186 million euro) less than the USD 2.4 billion originally allocated to the project.
He said: “Kalinin-4 has proved the feasibility of building a nuclear power unit nearly from scratch within a pre-set timeframe and, moreover, with a sizable saving.”
Construction of Kalinin-4, a pressurised water reactor unit with a net name-plate electrical power production capacity of 950 megawatts (MW), began in 1986 but was abandoned when the unit was less than 30 percent complete.
The project spent a decade on hold before a return to full construction began in late 2007. Fuel was loaded into the reactor in October 2011 and first criticality was achieved in November 2011.
Kalinin-3, an identical unit, was connected to the grid for the first time in December 2004 and began commercial operation in November 2005.
According to International Atomic Energy Agency data, Russia has 33 nuclear power reactors in commercial operation with a total installed capacity of 23,643 MW and a further 11 units under construction.
In 2011, nuclear’s share of total electricity production in Russia, was 17.59 percent, according to the IAEA.
