Unit 2 of Leningrad NPP-2 with a VVER-1200 reactor has been taken out of service as planned for a mid-term major overhaul

At 00:30 Moscow time on September 21, 2026, Unit 2 of Leningrad NPP-2 (Ленинградская АЭС-2 / Leningrad NPP-2) with a VVER-1200 (ВВЭР-1200) reactor was formally disconnected from the grid and entered a planned mid-term major overhaul (Плановый средний ремонт) in accordance with established approval procedures and the maintenance schedule of the Russian Power and Energy Group's "Rosenergoatom Concern" (АО «Концерн Росэнергоатом» / Rosenergoatom).

The overhaul program covers hundreds of individual works, with a focus on overhaul of the reactor and turbine unit, functional testing of safety systems, nuclear fuel reloading, maintenance and testing of process transport equipment, and non-destructive metal inspection of primary circuit core equipment and piping. High-quality execution of these technical operations is intended to ensure the stability and safety of the unit during the next fuel cycle.

In addition to the basic maintenance, the on-site engineering team will also carry out software and hardware system-level upgrades to the turbine automatic control and protection system. Alexander Belyaev (Александр Беляев / Alexander Belyaev), Chief Engineer of Leningrad NPP-2, said that Unit 1 at the station completed a similar upgrade in the spring of this year, and several months of operation have fully verified the significant improvement of the system in response speed and protection level under abnormal conditions; the upgrade of Unit 2 will also fully benchmark against these operating indicators.

More than 1,500 engineering and technical personnel have been mobilized for this mid-term maintenance task, working jointly by the nuclear power plant operation and maintenance team together with the nuclear power specialized maintenance service company Atomenergoremont (АО «Атомэнергоремонт» / Atomenergoremont). The full set of overhaul operations is scheduled to be completed and reconnected to the grid in early November this year, at which time the unit will resume supplying about 28 million kWh of baseload electricity per day to Russia's Unified Power System.

During the maintenance of Unit 2, Units 3 and 4 with RBMK-1000 (РБМК-1000) graphite-moderated water-cooled reactors at the Leningrad NPP (Ленинградская АЭС / Leningrad NPP) site, as well as Unit 1 of Leningrad NPP-2 with a VVER-1200 reactor, remain in rated grid-connected operation, continuously ensuring stable power supply to the regional grid.