Russian utility Rosenergoatom on 29th July received a licence issued by the country’s Federal Atomic Supervisory Service extending the lifetime of unit two of the Kola nuclear power plant until 2009 – five years beyond its design schedule.
Kola-2 is expected to restart operation next month – following completion of the planned maintenance and comprehensive reconstruction intended to enhance its safety under the terms of the lifetime extension.
At the same time, work being performed on Kola-2 has also created conditions for a further potential lifetime extension – of 15 years beyond its design time.
Similar work was successfully completed on Kola-1 last year, and the unit also received a five-year lifetime extension [see News No. 221, 8th July 2003]. The cost of the lifetime-extension preparatory work on both units totals approximately 200 million US dollars.
