Balakovo NPP

Electrical output: 4000MW

Balakovo NPP is the recognized leader of nuclear power engineering of Russia, generating annually over 30 billion kWh and repeatedly awarded with “The best NPP of Russia” grade (in various years from 1995 to 2011). The NPP is located 8 km away from Balakovo satellite-town on the left bank of Saratov artificial water reservoir.

The solemn ceremony of foundation stone laying for the future NPP, initially named Privolzhskaya, took place on October 28, 1977.

 Institute “Orgenergostroy” has developed for BNPP three main stages of construction of the main buildings: airtight area and installation of equipment – 12 months; construction of the peripheral structure combined with installation of equipment – 12 months; installation of civil structures and of equipment of the Turbine Hall and of the Unit pumphouses. The Project was realized based on the rules of NPP construction developed by scientists and engineers of the Company.

One of the rational ideas realized at the Project was integration into one complex of the nuclear power engineering construction combine and the works fabricating metal and reinforced concrete structures, of bases of building machines, house-building and training-production combines designed by specialists of the Company.

At the Plant there has been experimentally tested the special gantry providing, when using cross-ties, installation of up to 360t blocks; there has been tested flow line method and method of large-block installation; for the first time (in national practice) there has been introduced the continuous-conveyor technology of supply and placement of concrete mix.

The accelerated flow line construction enabled concentrating funds on startup objects that contributed to reduction of the volume of non-finalized construction and to reduction of the terms of construction of each Reactor building by 1.5-2 years at average in comparison with that standard.

In course of construction technical documents of multiple use developed by the Institute were used.

The rules of construction of NPPs developed by the Company enabled realizing economically efficiently the designs of construction of Balakovo, South-Ukraine, Khmelnitskaya, Rovno, Rostov, Kalinin NPPs, as well as of Kozloduy NPP in Bulgaria, Temelin NPP in Check Republic.

From 2005 to 2015 JSC OES carried out:

• Development of repair documents for reinforcement strand designed (documents) for pre-stressing Power unit 2 protective shell.
• Technical support for maintenance and repairs of Power Unit 4 protective shell pre-stressing system.
• Comprehensive inspection of Power Unit 1.
• Experimental investigation and design justification for development of the procedure of calculation of distribution of tension forces by length of reinforcement strands of protection shell pre-stressing systems of NPPs with WWER-1000 Reactors and forecasting of relaxation losses in time.