Balakovo nuclear power station (russian: Балаковская АЭС, Balakovskaya AES []) is located in the city of Balakovo, Saratov Oblast, Russia, about south-east of Moscow. It consists of four operational reactors; a fifth unit is still under construction. Owner and operator of the nuclear power station is
Rosenergoatom
Rosenergoatom (russian: Росэнергоатом) is the Russian nuclear power station operations subsidiary of Atomenergoprom.
Ownership and Formation
The company was established on 7 September 1992 in Presidential decree 1055: "''On operatin ...
.
Balakovo NPP participates in a twinning program between nuclear power stations in Europe and Russia; since 1990 it has been in partnership with
Biblis Nuclear Power Plant
__NOTOC__
The Biblis Nuclear Power Plant is in the South Hessian municipality of Biblis and consists of two units: unit A with a gross output of 1200 megawatts and unit B with a gross output of 1300 megawatts. Both units are pressurized water ...
.
Reactor data
The Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant has four operating units:
In 2018
Rosatom
Rosatom, ( rus, Росатом, p=rɐsˈatəm}) also known as Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom or Rosatom State Corporation, is a Russian state corporation headquartered in Moscow that speciali ...
announced it had developed a
thermal annealing
In metallurgy and materials science, annealing is a heat treatment that alters the physical and sometimes chemical properties of a material to increase its ductility and reduce its hardness, making it more workable. It involves heating a materi ...
technique for
reactor pressure vessel
A reactor pressure vessel (RPV) in a nuclear power plant is the pressure vessel containing the nuclear reactor coolant, core shroud, and the reactor core.
Classification of nuclear power reactors
Russian Soviet era RBMK reactors have each fuel a ...
s which ameliorates radiation damage and extends service life by between 15 and 30 years. This had been demonstrated on unit 1.
Gallery
File:BalNPP m st.jpg, Interior View
File:BalNPP m st2.jpg, Steam Turbine Maintenance
File:BalNPPcons2.jpg, Reactor under Construction
File:BalakovoNPP bv.jpg, Aerial View
File:BalakovoNPP sw.jpg, Distribution Station
File:BalakovoNPP CR.jpg, Control Room
File:BalNPPhist2.jpg, Steam Generator Transport
File:Balakovo NPP u 5 6.jpg, Unit 5 Construction
Incidents
On 27 June 1985 during startup of the first reactor unit, a
human error
Human error refers to something having been done that was " not intended by the actor; not desired by a set of rules or an external observer; or that led the task or system outside its acceptable limits".Senders, J.W. and Moray, N.P. (1991) Human ...
(later attributed to inexperience and haste) unexpectedly opened a pressurizer
relief valve
A relief valve or pressure relief valve (PRV) is a type of safety valve used to control or limit the pressure in a system; pressure might otherwise build up and create a process upset, instrument or equipment failure, or fire. The pressure is re ...
, and
steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
entered the staff work area. Fourteen people were killed. This event is cited as one of the predecessors of the
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...
.
[ Medvedev, Grigory. "The Truth About Chernobyl", ''I. B, Tauris'', London, 1 January 1991, .]
See also
*
Nuclear power in Russia
Russia is one of the world's largest producers of nuclear energy.
In 2020 total electricity generated in nuclear power plants in Russia was 215.746 TWh, 20.28% of all power generation.
The installed gross capacity of Russian nuclear reactors ...
References
External links
Balakovo NPP site– website in English
Rosenergoatom– website in Russian and English
Bellona Foundation, Balakovo NPP– International environmental organization
{{Hidden Nuclear Power Plants in Russia
Nuclear power stations built in the Soviet Union
Nuclear power stations in Russia
Buildings and structures in Saratov Oblast
Nuclear power stations with reactors under construction
Radiation accidents and incidents
Nuclear power stations using VVER reactors
1985 in the Soviet Union
1985 industrial disasters