OREANDA-NEWS. On August 14, 2007 the managers of Rosenergoatom and Leningrad NPP met at LNPP to discuss the intermediary results of the programs for modernizing and extending the service life of unit 3, completing the modernization of unit 2 and launching complexes for spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste treatment, reported the press-centre of Rosenergoatom.

While summing up the results of the conference, the technical director of Rosenergoatom Nikolay Sorokin said: “We have huge work to do: for modernizing unit 2 and, first of all, the special systems of unit 3 and launching spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste treatment complexes. Here, we have some problems and the conference was exactly for solving them. Leningrad NPP is one of the few Rosenergoatom NPPs - along with Kursk NPP - that are presently implementing such big projects.”

Sorokin pointed out that it is much cheaper to extend the life of an existing unit than to build a new one: “One KW of a newly built unit costs $1,200 while one KW of a modernized unit costs just $250. True, a new unit serves for 60 years while a modernized one for just 15 years but still to modernize is cheaper than to build.”

Rostekhnadzor has decided that the lives of the units of the first generation will be extended for 15 years, while those of the units of the second generation - for 20 years.

In his turn, the deputy director general of Rosenergoatom-the director of Leningrad NPP Valery Lebedev said: “Today, we have discussed the intermediary results of the projects: mostly the 2nd unit, which has not been stopped for overhaul and final modernization. The overhaul will last for 65 days and will result in the launch of additional safety systems. The second task is to extend the life of unit 3. Today, we are launching safety systems in its departments and are bringing the unit into compliance with the modern safety standards.”

The spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste treatment complexes are very important for the plant. The dry radioactive waste storage system is to be commissioned this year, the liquid radioactive waste storage complex - next year, the facility for storing spent nuclear fuel – by the end of the next year. “We will deploy several dozens of containers at the plant. There is no sense in transporting containers one by one. We will send the fuel as soon as the Mining Chemical Combine is ready to receive it,” Lebedev said.

“As a result of the modernization we will have reactors with improved physical parameters and safety systems.”