Unit 3 of Beloyarsk NPP begins scheduled maintenance and equipment modernization

Unit 3 of Russia's Beloyarsk NPP entered scheduled preventive maintenance on August 18. This outage maintenance will be used for fuel reloading, equipment maintenance, and preventive repairs, along with partial modernization efforts to maintain reliable unit operation and improve equipment performance.

The unit features a BN-600 sodium-cooled fast neutron reactor. During the maintenance period, the plant will carry out major repairs on the BN-600 reactor facility and replace 9 guide tubes in the control and protection system. Such operations are uncommon and are typically performed approximately once every 10 years.

According to the maintenance schedule, the plant will also repair the unloading lift device and conduct operational monitoring inspections of the reactor pressure vessel metal. To perform these inspections, partial dismantling of the serpentinite masonry lining will be required on site. Meanwhile, the unit will complete routine fuel reloading.

Within the reactor building, this maintenance cycle also involves equipment upgrades for the sodium systems, including replacement of electromagnetic pumps and sodium level gauges in the primary circuit main circulation pump tanks. In the turbine hall, Generator No. 6 will undergo major repairs; in addition, German control valves previously supplied under the Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States (TACIS) program will be replaced with Russian-made equipment. The plant-wide cable system upgrade for Unit 3 will continue, with the project planned over a 3-year period.

Yuri Nosov, Director of Beloyarsk NPP, stated that thanks to stable and reliable operation, Unit 3 generated over 2.35 billion kWh in the first half of this year, approximately equivalent to six months of electricity consumption for residents of Sverdlovsk Oblast. This scheduled preventive maintenance of the BN-600 unit will ensure its continued stable operation.

Beloyarsk NPP is located in Zarechny, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, and supplies approximately 16% of the region's electricity. The plant currently operates two sodium-cooled fast neutron reactor units, BN-600 and BN-800, with BN-600 in service since 1980 and BN-800 since 2015. The plant also participates in technical tasks related to Russia's closed nuclear fuel cycle, and preparatory work for the construction of the BN-1200M unit is currently underway on site.