en.Wedoany.com Reported - Site preparation work for the Kola NPP-2 has officially begun in Murmansk Oblast.

A ceremony marking the start of the work was held on Wednesday, attended by Murmansk Oblast Governor Andrey Chibis, Kola NPP management, and representatives of the general contractor JSC Titan-2. This stage does not constitute the official start of nuclear unit construction; it includes surveying, design, preparation of the construction base, as well as the construction of access roads and facilities required for future personnel.

Main construction will begin after design work is completed, expert reviews are concluded, and a construction license is obtained from Rostekhnadzor, Russia's technical oversight authority.

Speaking at the ceremony, Chibis said Polyarnye Zori will host the world's first nuclear power plant featuring innovative medium-power units, and that Kola NPP-2 construction will create opportunities for new industrial projects, driving the socio-economic development of the entire Russian Arctic. The construction phase will create more than 5,000 jobs, while the operational phase will require hundreds of highly qualified specialists. Once the new units are commissioned, industrial enterprises and infrastructure in Murmansk Oblast will receive reliable, uninterrupted electricity supply, which will also help maintain the region's energy balance after existing facilities are decommissioned.

Vasily Omelchuk, Director of Kola NPP, said the new plant is a logical continuation of nuclear power development on the Kola Peninsula, not a start from scratch. The existing team has years of operational experience, mature processes, and a high level of professionalism; in terms of staffing, young specialists will be trained, and employees will be transferred to the new units as the existing ones are decommissioned.

According to Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear energy corporation, the four new units at Kola NPP-2 will feature the VVER-S design, a 600 MWe water-cooled reactor currently under development, with the first two to be built between 2027 and 2037. If the proposed VVER-S reactors can be fully loaded with MOX (mixed oxide) fuel, natural uranium consumption will be reduced by 50%.

The new units are intended to replace the four existing Kola units. The current units are VVER-440 reactors: Units 1 and 2 are V-230 type, and Units 3 and 4 are V-213 type, each with a capacity of 411 MWe. They were connected to the grid between 1973 and 1984 and are now approaching the end of their operational lifetimes.

The Kola NPP was the first nuclear power plant built in harsh Arctic climatic conditions, supplying energy to the northern part of the Republic of Karelia—where most of the region's major industrial enterprises are located—as well as to more than half of all consumers on the Kola Peninsula.

Various plans for additional capacity at Kola have been considered over the years. According to the World Nuclear Association, a 2012 replacement plant plan called for two VVER-TOI units; in June 2021, plant management announced plans to begin construction of two VVER-S 600 MW reactors in 2028, with the first to be commissioned in 2034. The "S" denotes spectral shift control, which involves the use of heavy water in the primary coolant.