Yukiya Amano, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, paid his first visit to the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant in early June as part of his work at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum. He was demonstrated upgraded power units and inspected the readiness of the Generation 3+ VVER-1200 unit (Leningrad-II) for startup operations.

Mr. Amano was accompanied by Mikhail Chudakov, Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Energy, Nikolai Spassky, Rosatom Deputy CEO for International Relations, Vladimir Voronkov, Russia’s permanent representative to the international organizations in Vienna, and Alexei Ferapontov, Deputy Director of Russian regulator Rostechnadzor.

During his visit, Yukiya Amano praised safety systems of the Leningrad NPP and noted that the new Russian unit had more safety systems than previous models. The multi-level safety concept of VVER-1200 is very impressive. If any system fails, another snaps into action, and this is very reasonable,” he said.

When meeting with media after the visit, Yukiya Amano said that Russia contributed much to IAEA efforts in nuclear generation and non-power applications of nuclear energy. “Nuclear energy is the most environmentally friendly source of electric power as it produces minimal greenhouse gas emissions. Development of nuclear energy is indispensable to the well-being of mankind and will be continued. Russia is an active proponent of the process,” IAEA Director General noted.