2026 maintenance work completed at Russia's Kursk NPP

All 2026 maintenance work at Russia's Kursk NPP has been completed. In the final phase, the plant compressed the maintenance duration by 23.5 days, which is expected to increase electricity generation by approximately 500 million kWh.

On August 27, 2026, Unit 4 of Kursk NPP returned to rated power operation after completing scheduled preventive maintenance with modernization upgrades ahead of schedule. The maintenance was completed 20 days ahead of the original plan while ensuring safety and quality.

The main maintenance work this cycle was concentrated in the reactor building and turbine hall, including maintenance of multiple forced circulation loop equipment, the reactor emergency cooling system, the blowdown and cooling system, as well as turbine-generator units 7 and 8. Major modernization work was also completed on the reactor graphite stack to ensure its operating parameters meet requirements.

Sergey Zyskin, Deputy Chief Engineer for Maintenance at Kursk NPP, stated that the optimization of the maintenance duration was achieved through mature maintenance management technologies, the application of Rosatom Production System tools, and staffing optimization. The technical performance of robotic equipment used for cleaning the condenser heat-exchange tubes of turbine-generator units 7 and 8 was also improved, with plant and contractor personnel working together to complete the relevant tasks.

In addition to Unit 4, Unit 3 was also taken offline simultaneously for joint maintenance of the thermal equipment that ensures reliable heat supply to the city of Kurchatov. This work was also completed 3.5 days ahead of schedule. With this, the 2026 maintenance plan for Kursk NPP has been fully completed.

As of now, Units 3 and 4 (RBMK-1000) and Unit 7 (VVER-TOI) of Kursk NPP are operating at power in accordance with the dispatch schedule. Units 1 and 2 are in non-power-generating operation mode as they have reached their designated service life limits. As of September 2, 2026, electricity generation at Kursk NPP exceeds the national task plan target by 5.6%.

Radiation levels at Kursk NPP and in the surrounding area remain within the normal operating range of the plant and do not exceed natural background values. The plant is part of Rosenergoatom and is one of the key nodes of Russia's central power system. As a replacement project for the RBMK units, Kursk NPP-2 is under construction with new units employing VVER-TOI technology.