In the era of the Soviet Union large-scale construction projectsIt was difficult to surprise any of the citizens. Across the immense, now defunct country, enormous in size and material investments were carried out for the construction of industrial facilities, among which Khmelnitsky NPP occupies a special place. We will tell about this station generating electricity from atomic energy in the article.
general information
Khmelnitsky NPP is the last of its kindinstallation, which was commissioned during the period of the USSR. Moreover, the object turned out to be the first of its kind on the territory of modern independent Ukraine and, quite possibly, the first sign on the way of the most efficient update of the existing fleet of nuclear reactors. The main task for the station was to compensate for the acute shortage of electrical capacity in the western regions of Ukraine, and, if necessary, export to the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance states.
Prehistory
During the 1970s, there was a very rapid development.national economy of the Soviet Union, which quite logically demanded an increase in the provision of electricity. The unified energy system of the country was extremely sensitive to the lack of capacity. Since the western regions performed a very decent export of electricity abroad, there naturally arose a need to cover the difference by creating a new station, and one that could produce at least 4000 MW. Of course, this was only possible due to nuclear energy. And therefore, on March 16, 1971, the USSR Council of Ministers decided to start building a new nuclear power plant in the center of Ukraine. However, in connection with the increasing export of electricity to the CMEA countries, it was decided to build the station in the west of the state.
Creators
Khmelnitsky NPP, the accident which will be describedbelow, created by specialists from the Kiev Institute called Energoproekt. The final version of the project was approved by the relevant ministry on November 28, 1979. The document provided for the unification of nuclear power plants with a VVER-1000 reactor. The role of the main construction site claimed more than 50 points.
Start of construction
So, where is Khmelnitsky NPP on the mapOf Ukraine? The country's leadership chose the Neteshin area of the city as its permanent base. Initially, the object was named the West Ukrainian NPP, but later it was renamed precisely Khmelnitsky.
February 4, 1977 USSR Ministry of Energyissued an order to start the construction of the station. This document gave impetus to large-scale operations. Alexey Ivanovich Trotsenko was approved as the director of an industrial strategic facility.
First difficulties
In the spring of 1977, the first arrived in Netishin.workers. A squad of 60 people led by the head of the site. The entire team initially identified only one excavator, two cars and a bulldozer. It is worth noting that mother nature also brought additional problems to the pioneers: the terrain was wooded and swampy, disturbed by moors and terrible off-road. According to the memoirs of the first director of the nuclear power plant, the workers of the construction site had a meager salary for those times and lived in very cramped conditions, firmly believing in their bright future.
Continuation of construction
In 1978, equipment began to be delivered to the facility,constructions of the first units and assemblies. A dredger was also launched, which washes the site under the road and the city. Two years later, they began to build a reservoir with a total area of 22 km2, and the first inhabitants of the future city of atomic lobbyists received completely ready apartments from the state.
Directly start the construction of nuclear power plants dates fromJanuary 22, 1981. It was on this day that the first bucket of soil was excavated at the construction site under the foundation pit, on which it was planned to install the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant.
Еще через полгода строители занялись concreting the basis of the separation of the reactor. And on October 22, 1981, together with the first cube of concrete, poured into the slab of the power unit, a capsule was laid, in which a symbolic message was placed for future generations. On December 1 of the same year, the first issue of the Energostroitel printed edition was printed and released.
In July 1982, during the construction of the mainCorps workers have passed the zero mark. The creation of partitions and the installation of metal structures was also begun. The very next year, builders began assembling the shaft of the reactor itself. In parallel, work was carried out on the construction of block No. 2.
In 1984, they built special flyovers for technical pipelines and completed the construction of the Khmelnitsky NPP - Rzeszow (Poland) power line with a capacity of 750 kW.
In 1986, the first power unit was mountedtight shell, pipelines, ventilation systems. In August, the reactor dome was finally installed. The construction of blocks No. 2 and No. 3 also continued, the workers were preparing for the start of construction No. 4.
Commissioning
In November 1987, the first power unit waslaid nuclear fuel. The physical launch of the reactor occurred at 6 am on December 10 under the supervision of shift supervisor Tugaev. On December 22, it became clear that the reactor was already fully ready to be connected to the country's unified energy network. On December 31, the station was fully accepted for operation.
On April 17, 1988, the first scheduled preventive repair of the first power unit was made in the history of the Khmelnitsky NPP.
The era of the 90s
At this time, Khmelnitsky NPP is activelyoperated and gradually built on. At the same time, problems appeared, among which: the introduction of a moratorium by the government of the country on the construction of nuclear reactors, chronic wage arrears among employees of the enterprise, and others. Nevertheless, the nuclear power plant continued to generate electricity, and at the time of 1999, the construction of a radioactive waste storage facility was 80% complete.
The period of the 2000s
At the time of 2002, the power plant was able to produce 90 billion kWh of electricity. A year later, the facility was able to reduce the amount of harmful emissions into the atmosphere by 10 times.
On August 8, 2007, power unit No. 2 was introduced into the unified energy system of Ukraine.
В 2007 году ситуация на Хмельницкой АЭС была studied by representatives of the IAEA mission, who arrived at the facility at the invitation of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The experts assessed compliance with safety standards and were satisfied with what they saw, which reassured all those who were worried about the operation of the nuclear power plant.
In the fall of 2015, the agreement with the Russian Federation on the construction of energy blocks No. 3 and No. 4 was broken.
Technical specifications
Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant in thismoment of time uses two power units. Both the first and second reactors are equipped with VVER-1000/320 power plants with a capacity of 950 MW. Moreover, power unit No. 1 has a design deadline date of December 13, 2018, and power unit No. 2 has September 7, 2035.
Emergency
Что случилось на Хмельницкой АЭС в начале current 2018? On the night of January 3, an emergency occurred at the industrial facility: a coolant leak was detected in the seal assembly of the regulating body of the protection and control system. In connection with this management of the station, it was decided to disconnect the second power unit from the network. As a result, the repair work lasted until January 9. All this time, local residents received heat in their homes through the use of steam boilers at the start-up station.
In general, the Khmelnitsky NPP, the accident in 2018 atwhich caused a commotion among ordinary inhabitants, is relatively safe and is under the strict control of relevant specialists. It is worth noting here that the “320th” power units are no longer considered fully compliant with international safety requirements after the accident in Japanese Fukushima.
The described incident on the INES world scale has a zero classification, that is, off the scale.
