Rosenergoatom: Russian NPPs finished the year with an all-time record, surpassing the achievements of the USSR

Moscow, January 11 - Neftegaz.RU. Rosenergoatom confirmed that it was indeed the largest power generating company of the country: Nuclear power plants, being its branches, generated over 215.746 billion kWh of electricity.

“We ended 2020 with an absolute record in the entire history of the Russian nuclear power industry, previously achieved only during the Soviet era in 1988, when all NPPs produced the total of 215.669 billion kWh (incl. NPPs in Ukraine, Lithuania and Armenia),” – Director Gen. of Rosenergoatom Andrey Petrov noted.

The FAS balance in 2020 was fulfilled by 103.92% with the planned figure of 207.614 billion kWh. Russian NPPs not only broke the Soviet record with these numbers, but also exceeded their own achievement of 2019 (208.7 billion kWh) by more than 7 billion kWh.

The peak of the development of nuclear power in 1988, there were 47 power units in operation in the Soviet Union; today the company has 37 of them. Power unit № 6 of the Leningrad NPP with a VVER-1200 reactor is being prepared for commissioning for 2021.

The Rostov NPP with over 32.8 billion kWh, the Balakovo NPP with over 30.6 billion kWh, and the Kalinin plant with over 28.4 billion kWh provided the maximum output among the Russian NPPs that made the largest contribution to this record.

The main factors that played a large role in increasing electricity generation were:

• the duration of repair campaigns being optimized by 130.5 days
• this provided an additional 2.4 billion kWh
• transitioning from 12-month to 18-month fuel (overhaul) cycle of power unit № 6 of the Novovoronezh NPP

In addition, a floating nuclear thermal power plant (FNPP) was put into operation in Chukotka in May 2020. It has generated about 127.3 million kWh since the beginning of the year. And in October, the new VVER-1200 power unit № 6 of the Leningrad NPP was connected to the unified power grid of the country.

By this moment, the share of nuclear generation makes up about 19% of the total electricity generation in the country. Thus, every 5h light bulb in Russia burns from the energy generated by nuclear power plants.