First Concrete Poured for Turbine Building of Unit 3 VVER-1200 at Leningrad NPP Phase II

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 9, 2026, concrete pouring began for the foundation of the turbine building of Unit 3 VVER-1200 at Leningrad NPP Phase II. Construction workers have completed pouring of the central section of the future foundation, using nearly 5,000 cubic meters of concrete.

This pour marks the first stage of construction for the turbine building's foundation structure. According to the plan, the contractor will use nearly 5,000 tonnes of rebar and more than 20,000 cubic meters of high-strength concrete to build a monolithic foundation slab 2.5 meters high and over 8,000 square meters in area. The related operations are currently being carried out simultaneously in 7 construction zones.

Konstantin Khudyakov, head of the Leningrad NPP project at TITAN-2 Holding, stated that the construction of the turbine building foundation places high demands on concrete quality, pouring technology and curing conditions, especially in the first few days after pouring, when it is necessary to focus on controlling on-site temperature and humidity and preventing mechanical damage. After the concrete reaches its design strength, the contractor and the owner will jointly inspect the structure using non-destructive testing methods, including ultrasonic testing; at the same time, specimens made from the same batch of concrete will also undergo compressive strength tests on a hydraulic press to confirm that the foundation is capable of bearing the loads of walls, floors, piping and large operating equipment.

According to the plan, the foundation slab of the turbine building for Unit 3 VVER-1200 at Leningrad NPP Phase II will be completed before the end of November this year. Subsequently, construction workers will carry out wall and floor construction and build the condenser foundation. The condenser is a heat exchange device used to convert turbine exhaust steam into condensate. The foundation for the turbine generator set, including the steam turbine and turbogenerator, is planned to start construction next year, and installation of the turbine equipment is planned for 2029.

Yevgeny Milushkin, Deputy Director of Leningrad NPP and Head of Phase II Construction Management, stated that the turbine building is the core facility of the conventional island of a nuclear power unit, where steam energy is converted into mechanical energy and then into electrical energy for delivery to users. The building will also perform a key function in the heating chain, with turbine extraction steam used to heat water for the heating network, after which hot water and thermal energy will be supplied to the satellite town of Sosnovy Bor and its industrial zone.

According to the construction schedule, Unit 3 of Leningrad NPP Phase II is planned to deliver its first electricity to Russia's Unified Power System in 2030. Facilities related to heat carrier supply also need to be completed within the same period. To meet pre-commissioning requirements, civil and installation work for the new unit will be completed ahead of schedule so that equipment, process systems, auxiliary systems and other systems can successively complete verification at each pre-commissioning stage.

Leningrad NPP is located in Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It is a branch of Rosenergoatom and has an installed capacity of 4,400 MW. The plant currently operates two RBMK-1000 units and two Generation III+ VVER-1200 units. Units 1 and 2 RBMK-1000 have been shut down after 45 years of service and have entered the decommissioning stage, and the two VVER-1200 units replacing their capacity were commissioned in 2018 and 2021, respectively.

Units 3 and 4 VVER-1200 of Leningrad NPP Phase II began construction in 2022 and will in the future replace Units 3 and 4 RBMK-1000 at Leningrad NPP. After the project is commissioned, each unit is expected to generate more than 8.5 billion kWh per year. TITAN-2 Holding is part of the Rosatom system and serves as the general contractor for the construction of new units at nuclear power plants including Leningrad, Kola and Smolensk, and also participates in international nuclear projects such as Akkuyu in Turkey, Paks II in Hungary and El Dabaa in Egypt.