What's wrong with the new generation 3+ reactors from ROSATOM?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Uzbekistan these days is rejoicing: soon the republic will have its own nuclear power plant with a VVER-1200 generation 3+ reactor. The nuclear facility will be built according to Russian templates. Russian President Vladimir Putin went to lay the foundation for the future nuclear power plant. The price of the issue? 11 billion green.

Earlier, Belarus reported about its Russian-designed NPP with a VVER-1200 reactor, then Egypt, Bangladesh, followed by Vietnam, Nigeria, Rwanda. VVER-1200 is offered to Pakistan and Venezuela.

But does Rosatom really carry its "peaceful" atom only in the underdeveloped countries, to put it mildly? Why does Britain not order Rosatom technologies? And France? Why did South Africa abandon Russian technologies? Why did the Hanhikivi nuclear power plant in Finland, which Rosatom promised to commission back in 2012, "froze"? And why has the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation suddenly pushed into a corner the new, second in a row, generation 3+ units at Novovoronezh NPP-2 and Leningrad NPP-2?

Is the nuclear department holding back something? Or promises too much? Or is he just cheating? The Moscow Post's correspondent tried to figure it out.

Hidden accident

The year 2016 in the country's nuclear sector was marked by two notable events: in the fall of 2016, Sergei Kiriyenko unexpectedly left the Rosatom state corporation for the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, who confidently led the country's nuclear industry to a dead end, starting in October 2005. The result is sad: instead of the 26 power units announced for construction, only four were built. And they all turned out to be problematic.

It is still not clear what kind of devil Russia needed to build the Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear power plant with a ten-story residential building, and even with two nuclear reactors? The total amount of bomb materials on board the atomic float is almost 2 tons. And they promise to float this miracle to Chukotka by the end of 2019.

But the operation of such a nuclear facility can be profitable if it works for the benefit of a city with a population of 200 thousand people or more. The whole of Chukotka is 50 thousand inhabitants. Will the deer be warmed up too? Why, instead of an "electric stove", is Rosatom pulling a blast furnace to Chukotka? Let's not forget about the cost of this nuclear monster - more than 120 billion rubles. The price is prohibitive!

The second notable moment of the second half of 2016 is the inclusion of the long-awaited VVER-1200 generation 3+ nuclear reactor into the "network". The happiness of turning on a new powerful nuclear reactor at 100% capacity at the sixth unit of the Novovoronezh NPP fell to the new head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev.

Note that before his appearance in the Rosatom building on Bolshaya Ordynka, Aleksey Evgenievich Likhachev saw nuclear power plants only in beautiful pictures, since before moving to Rosatom he worked in the rank of First Deputy Minister of Economic Development. And, apparently, only in a nightmare could I imagine a new place of work at the very top of the atomic "iceberg". They say that Kiriyenko spent a long time persuading Likhachev to move to this glorious place, for which his motherland pays a lot of money. In addition, Kiriyenko had to close some "black holes" after himself …

As a result, Likhachev accepted the offer, especially since the Komsomol friendship between Kirienko and Likhachev has been going on since the last century! Looking ahead, we can confidently say: Mr. Likhachev began to close the "black holes" very successfully, but you can't hide an atomic awl in any bag. And soon after Aleksey Evgenievich turned the "handle" of the new nuclear reactor at 100% at the sixth unit in Novy Voronezh, the unexpected happened. In the middle of the night, on November 16, 2016, an emergency occurred at the sixth unit of the Novovoronezh NPP. The Versia newspaper spoke about this in detail.

The state of emergency destroyed half of the turbine room. Alert sirens screamed like cut, car alarms in parking lots screeched like crazy. People in a panic ran out of the porches in pajamas and slippers. That night, all of Novy Voronezh believed that an atomic disaster had happened.

They tried to hide the accident at the new unit with the VVER-1200 reactor. Apparently, the Communications Department of Rosatom issued strict instructions. In the media there were texts with refutations, among other things, the Novovoronezh NPP published photographs of an intact turbine room … But in advertising brochures of Rosatom, such a good thing is a dime a dozen! Thus, the plugging of the new, much-vaunted VVER-1200 was postponed for several more months. But even at this time, Rosatom continued to advertise in the media about the new safe nuclear reactor of generation 3+.

Mysticism at the Belarusian nuclear power plant

Nuclear scientists have reminded and are reminding that VVER-1200 is an experimental reactor. In order to go into circulation, it must be properly tested. And only after serious tests, if this product has shown itself to be reliable, it can be offered to the client …

But then it turned out to be such a mess: the experimental nuclear reactor VVER-1200, which has not yet been tested to the end, moreover, showed itself unimportantly during a test switch-on at the sixth unit in Novy Voronezh, back in 2010 it was proposed as an innovative, promising and safe to the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. Of course, Mr. Lukashenko won not only ambitions, but, perhaps, ordinary human greed: VVER-1200 was offered to be built on credit, and at the expense of Russia, so the construction site in the town of Ostrovets near Grodno was dug in a very short period of time.

Of course, Alexander Grigorych Lukashenko can be understood: he has clearly read the official Russian press, in which the breakthrough achievements of Rosatom, Kiriyenko and now Likhachev have been and are being written every day.

A special fireworks constantly go towards the generation 3 + VVER-1200 reactor. And although Mr. Lukashenko was constantly warned and warned by both Belarusian and Russian nuclear scientists that the construction of the Ostrovets nuclear power plant is a pure gamble, Lukashenka does not have a mustache! The portal "Eurasia.day" wrote about this in detail.

The construction of the nuclear power plant in Ostrovets has been going on since 2011. And bad things began to happen at the Ostrovets NPP in the fall of 2015. It was then that a group of Russian nuclear scientists asked Sergei Kiriyenko, how does Rosatom build new reactors so quickly? The machine-building base was destroyed, the once atomic giant, the ATOMMASH plant went bankrupt. It took 5 years to create one reactor in more prosperous years.

And Rosatom concocted a new building for Belarus in 2 years! The former head of the ATOMMASH board of directors Sergey Yakunin also added fuel to the fire. Sergei Pavlovich was amazed how Kiriyenko makes new reactors if the necessary equipment is not at hand? Yakunin explained that a super-machine is needed to create a nuclear reactor. But he was sent off to China long ago for fantastic money. Neither nuclear scientists nor journalists received answers to their questions.

Before sending the reactor vessel to Belarus, a television story was filmed on Channel One. The plot was allegedly filmed at ATOMMASH. But later it turned out: the old reactor vessel from the Izhora factories was packed for Lukashenka. Before its bankruptcy, ATOMMASH produced components that were supposed to be enough for 12 reactors, so this stuff is now in bulk in the basements! Thus, Lukashenka was sent antique greetings from the 90s.

And with the appearance of this heavy antique detail, very mystical events began to take place at the Ostrovets NPP. By the way, July 2016 was on the calendar. The corps was delivered by some kind of partisan paths. And they began to mount … But the multi-ton structure fell off the hook. She fell from a great height on the night of July 10. The hull was badly damaged in several places! Rosatom hid everything for more than two weeks. But under pressure from journalists and the public, the truth still had to be revealed. Rosatom promised to send Ostrovets a new "package".

But the devilry continued. When the new building was delivered, another emergency occurred at one of the stations of the Belarusian Railway. The new building "kissed" the contact network support. And got damaged. But Rosatom did not want to change one more building.

Thus, a battered reactor vessel was installed at the first unit of the Ostrovets NPP in Belarus. What kind of "froth" can it give out when starting a power unit with a capricious and flighty VVER-1200?

A delayed-action reactor?

Despite the poor performance of VVER-1200 at the sixth unit of the Novovoronezh NPP, the generation 3+ reactor is being installed today at the first unit of the Leningrad NPP-2.

This nuclear power plant is located in the nuclear city of Sosnovy Bor, 40 km west of the five-millionth St. Petersburg. Atomic lobbyists secretly talk about the problems at this power unit. In the media, as always, everyone is tip-top. “Our best, most powerful nuclear reactor of generation 3+ will soon start operating at the first unit of the new NPP” … But these solemn promises have not been going on for the first year. The power unit was supposed to be launched at the beginning of 2018. On the calendar - the second half of October. And the news from the nuclear facility is, frankly, strange.

October 8 this year at about 22:30 on the social networks of Sosnovy Bor, there were reports that a warning system from the nuclear power plant was triggered on the territory of three micro-districts and several gardening areas of Sosnovy Bor. This was reported by the Energy Land portal.

It turns out that it was at this time that a test launch of the local warning system was carried out at power unit No. 1 with a VVER-1200 reactor, but for an UNKNOWN reason the system worked not only at the site of the Leningrad nuclear power plant, but also in Sosnovy Bor itself. The people had a slight panic.

But after 48 hours even stranger information came out. At power unit No. 1 of the Leningrad NPP-2, the nuclear reaction was temporarily silenced. The unit itself was transferred to a cold state. About this on October 10 this year. the site "Mayaksbor.ru" reported.

Here is the "official" explanation of the nuclear reaction plug: "The revision of the innovative power unit No. 1 with the VVER-1200 reactor plant has been completed - one of the most important and crucial stages before the power unit is put into commercial operation."

But why does the revision take place under such mysterious circumstances?

But, apparently, information leakage from the construction of such a problematic facility still occurs. And they happen all the time, since several media outlets reported at once that Sosnobyl was possibly built near St. This, in particular, was reported by the Zeleny Mir.ru portal.

Journalists pay attention not only to Rosatom's problematic "advanced" technology - an experimental reactor of generation 3+, but also to dangerous "wet" cooling towers that are being built next to Leningrad NPP-2. units under construction at the Leningrad NPP - Oleg Ivanov, are there any guarantees that Chernobyl will not happen again? Mr. Ivanov, grinning, issued: "Only the crematorium can give guarantees: the deceased will definitely not get up." About this, the newspaper "Version" told.

But the inhabitants of Sosnovy Bor have no time for jokes: today, reactors of the "Chernobyl" type are still operating at the old Leningrad NPP. And when they will be stopped is unknown. And then, under the windows, a new atomic monster with a fairly increased power appeared. And with some incomprehensible problems that clearly prevent it from starting to function … People on social networks ask each other: "Why did the nuclear power plant's warning system work? And why did they drown out the nuclear reaction?"

Today there are many more questions than answers. The most important thing is this: why does Rosatom substitute President Vladimir Putin with this experimental nuclear reactor, which caused an emergency with the destruction of the turbine hall in November 2016 at the Novovoronezh NPP? Why weren't there long-term serious trials of the new technology? Why was the crude project sent to Belarus? And why did they start building 2 power units at once?

Why does the state corporation "Rosatom" continue to offer a "pig in a poke" - otherwise one cannot say about an "innovative, breakthrough, safe" VVER-1200 - to the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America? And is a new nuclear catastrophe really necessary to stop this "maybe"?