Russia’s Novovoronezh-3 Nuclear Unit Is Shut Down Permanently

29 Dec (NucNet): The Novovoronezh-3 nuclear reactor unit in Voronezh Oblast, western Russia, was shut down permanently on 25 December 2016, state nuclear corporation Rosatom has confirmed. Some of its components will be used as part of a life extension project for Novovoronezh-4, Rosatom said. Both units are Russian VVER-400, 385-MW reactors. Novovoronezh-3 began commercial operation in 1972 and Novovoronezh-4 in 1973. Rosenergoatom, Rosatom’s nuclear power plant operating subsidiary, said that over its lifetimes Novovoronezh-3 produced 118.67 terawatt hours of electricity – more than half of the combined annual production of all of Russia's nuclear units. Rosenergoatom said Novovoronezh-3 was “the first of a dynasty” of the VVER-440 design, of which six units were built in Russia – two at Novovoronezh and four at Kola – and 29 overseas, in Armenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine. The company estimates that the market for decommissioning VVER-400 units abroad could be worth up to $29bn (€27bn). Novovoronezh-3 will be a test case for such work, it added. Novovoronezh-3 underwent upgrade work between 1999 and 2002 and a 15-year licence extension was obtained for it to continue operations until the end of 2016. In October 2016, Novovoronezh-6, also known as Novovoronezh 2-1, started operating at 100% power for the first time. The VVER 1200/392M pressurised water reactor unit with a net design capacity of 1,114 MW, is Russia’s first Generation-III+ nuclear unit.