File photo of the Leningrad 2 nuclear power station. Courtesy Rosatom. Loading of 163 dummy nuclear fuel elements has been completed at the Leningrad 2-2 nuclear power plant in Sosnovy Bor, western Russia, state nuclear operator Rosenergoatom said.

The dummy fuel elements will remain in the reactor core until the end of 2019 to enable cold and hot hydraulic tests of the reactor’s primary cooling circuits.

These tests allow a realistic assessment of the circulation of primary coolant and help purge the primary system of impurities.

Rosenergoatom said the physical startup of Leningrad 2-2 is scheduled for March 2020.

Leningrad 2-2 is a Generation III+ VVER-1200 nuclear unit with a net design power capacity of 1,085 MW and a gross capacity of 1,199 MW. Construction began in April 2010.

The existing Leningrad nuclear station, Leningrad 1, has three commercially operating RMBK-1000 units and a permanently shut-down RBMK unit. Leningrad 2 will have four VVER-1200 units.

Date: Saturday, 14 September 2019
Original article: nucnet.org/news/dummy-fuel-elements-loaded-into-reactor-core-9-5-2019