OREANDA-NEWS. The first batch of steam generators for unit 2 of the Leningrad Phase II nuclear power plant has been delivered to the construction site, Russian nuclear power plant operator Rosenergoatom said on 17 June.

Russian heavy equipment manufacturer ZIO-Podolsk - a subsidiary of Atomenergomash, which is part of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom - transported the equipment by rail, river and road to the construction site in Sosnovy Bor in Russia's Leningrad District, on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland.

A large part of the route crossed a number of waterways: the Oka River, Moskva River, Moscow Canal, Rybinsk Reservoir, Volga River, Northern Dvina Canal, Volga-Baltic Canal, Lake Onega, Lake Ladoga, and the River Neva.

The intermodal approach achieved significant cost savings and reduced the delivery schedule by about three months, Rosenergoatom said. It also minimized the need to identify convenient times for the transport by rail of such a heavy load and avoided the need to invest in strengthening platforms, tracks and bridges, it said.

Leningrad Phase II is a new nuclear power plant adjacent to the existing Leningrad nuclear plant site. Two 1200 MWe AES-2006 design units are being built there, with two further AES-2006 units planned. First criticality of unit 1 was scheduled for the end of 2015, while start-up of unit 2 was planned for 2017. The existing Leningrad nuclear power plant is to be withdrawn from service, which is expected in 2018. Startup of units 3 and 4 of the new plant was planned for 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Titan-2 and Atomproekt are the general contractor and general designer, respectively, of the Leningrad Phase II project.

Leningrad II is the second of Russia's new AES-2006 nuclear power plants using VVER-1200 reactors. The first is Novovoronezh II, which employs a slightly different reactor model of the VVER-1200 from Leningrad II. The first unit at the plant, construction of which began in 2008, had originally been planned to start up in 2012. Construction of the second unit began a year later, with a planned start-up date of 2013, although this was subsequently revised to 2015.

Russian regulator Rostechnadzor issued construction licences for units 1 and 2 in February 2010. The licences expire on 31 March 2018 for unit 1 and 14 July 2019 for unit 2.