OREANDA-NEWS. October 11, 2012. On the 10th of October, 2012, at 14:00 Zheleznogorsk HPP was commissioned for the commercial operation. The heating power plant has become a new heat source for the city of Zheleznogorsk and replaces the heat the city used to receive from a nuclear reactor of the Mining and Chemical Combine.

The commissioning for commercial operation is the result of a joint effort of ROSATOM, Krasnoyarsk Territory Government, NIKIMT-Atomstroy, MCC and other enterprises located in Krasnoyarsk Territory. Over the past week, final preparations were carried out and all pipelines of about 24 km in length were purged. As the result, the coolant parameters that met start-up guidelines were reached. A thermal energy balance of Zheleznogorsk during the heating season 2012-2013 was approved. ZhHPP capacity is 280 Gcal/h when temperature is above minus 17 Celsius; the reactor produced exactly the same. When temperature is below minus 17 Celsius, heat sources of the first STS MCC boiler will be engaged, which will heat the pipelines up to the required temperature.

The Zheleznogorsk HPP project has been implemented in the framework of the agreement between Minatom of Russia and the U.S. Department of Energy of 2003 concerning termination of plutonium production at production reactors in Seversk and Zheleznogorsk. The Zeleznogorsk HPP construction was financed by the U.S. party. The facility start-up is a historic event, in a certain sense, for Zheleznogorsk. In fact, it means an entirely new heat and hot water supply system, which increases reliability of the heat supply to the city residents and guarantees safe operation of all municipal systems.

NIKIMT-Atomstroy played both roles – of the developer and of the principal construction contractor for the plant. During the heating season 2011-2012 the start-up and alignment operations were carried out and successfully completed in May 2012. In July 2012 a plant commissioning permit was obtained. Under the circumstances NIKIMT-Atomstroy became the plant operating organization. In September 2012 a plant operating license was granted, so NIKIMT-Atomstroy remains on the site but already in a different capacity, i.e. the operator, developer and principal contractor. In 2012-2014 it is planned to continue to develop infrastructure which improves safety of Zheleznogorsk HPP operation, i.e. ash and slag dump site 1A.