This step will herald the beginning of a reactor startup phase. “According to our top-level plan, fuel will be loaded in September 2017. We are moving on with the time schedule and plan to do the job by the scheduled date”, Andrei Gorbunov, Chief Engineer at Rostov Nuclear Power Plant, said to the reporters.

He added that nuclear fuel should be ideally delivered shortly before the loading date. “We are using dummy assemblies to carry out cold and hot functional tests and fine-tune the equipment. The fuel is being manufactured and will be delivered as soon as we obtain a commissioning permit. When it arrives, it is booked on the nuclear station’s balance sheet and affects our financial performance. If it is delivered right before loading, this will improve our performance”, Andrei Gorbunov explains. According to him, Unit 4 will go critical in the autumn of 2017.

All the large-size machinery and pipelines of the reactor island have been installed and assembled; the turbine shaft will be installed by the end of this year.