Russia’s Kola Nuclear Plant to run its oldest reactor even longer

MURMANSK – Despite the fact that the Kola nuclear power plant produces 500 megawatts of unneeded energy per year, Russia’s nuclear utility Rosenergoatom is holding a tender for upgrades to the station’s No 1 reactor — with the aim of running it for 60 years.

According to the Goczakupok, the state’s official site for open tenders, Rosenergoatom is billing the work for nearly 700 million rubles ($10.3 million) and the upgrades are to take place between June 1, 2016 and October 1, 2018. Candidates for the project, says the site, are being accepted until April 4 and the winner will be announced by May 4.

Vasily Omelchuk, the plant’s director, says that the foreseeable future holds no possibilities for other energy development, be it in the form of new hydroelectric stations, renewable sources or even the construction of a second Kola nuclear power plant.

“Therefore the engineered lifespans of reactors No 1 and 2 were extended by 15 years to 2018 and 2019,” said Omelchuk. “The station has worked out an investment plan to extend the lifespan of it reactors generally to 60 years, or for 15 years a piece,” he told an ecological gathering of the Murmansk Regional Government and the Public Council on Atomic Energy.

The station’s reactor No 1 this year reached 43 years old. All four of the plants reactors are working on extended engineering lifespans, and each was initially designed expected to run for 30 years.

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Data: 27.03.2016

Fonte: www.bellona.org