Russia’s state-run Atomic Energy Corporation said turbine blades broke at a plant where the company had installed two power units of the same type as those at the plant it is building in Turkey and at the plant it intends to build in Hungary , reported Reuters.
Rosenergoatom, which runs Russia’s nuclear power plants, said it was unclear what caused the broken blades that shut down one of the reactors at the Leningrad nuclear power plant west of St. Petersburg last Sunday.
“The main task now is to find out the reason for the breakage of the blades. This is a new phenomenon,” said the head of “Rosenergoatom”, Alexander Shutikov. According to him, the repair should be completed by December 22, adds BTA.
“The turbines are not part of the plant’s “nuclear island” and their malfunction does not affect nuclear safety, as all the reactor equipment is functioning as intended,” Rosenergoatom also said.
The failed VVER 1200 power unit was built in 2018 with next-generation technologies, according to Reuters. Russia is building reactors of this type at the Akkuyu NPP in Turkey, and the planned Paksh-2 power plant in Hungary is also expected to be equipped with them. Russia is already supplying them to Belarus.
Shutikov said the broken blades were part of a 1,200-megawatt high-speed steam turbine. The turbines are manufactured by the company of businessman Alexey Mordashov.
Mordashov’s company said that turbines of the same type have been operating without problems since 2016 in four power units.
She added that she is taking all measures to resume the work of the affected unit in the shortest possible time and is working with specialists from the plant to investigate the causes and identify the defects.
2023-11-16 18:36:21
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