On September 25, Russia’s nuclear regulator Rostekhnadzor issued a compliance certificate to confirm that Unit 4 of the Rostov NPP meets all technical specifications, including energy efficiency requirements. The unit was put in commercial operation on September 28, or three months ahead of the scheduled date – December 31, 2018.

“Rostov NPP is the first NPP in the newest history where the so called straight-line construction that provides both adherence to deadlines and maximum effective use of materials and financial resources was revived. It is due to this type of construction RoNPP was constructed not only 3 months earlier, but with the high quality,” General Director of Rosenergoatom  Andrey Petrov said. Shorter construction and faster commissioning saved over RUB 1.5 billion (USD 22.9 million) in project costs.

“For all the employees of the Division Rostov NPP is a very important facility, as when constructing the second, third and fourth power units we, in fact, revived the construction sector of nuclear power industry: we expanded the capacity, implemented new technologies, trained personnel,” chief of the Engineering Division of Rosatom Valery Limarenko stressed.

The Rostov NPP is one of the largest power generation facilities in the Rostov region and Southern Russia. Unit 4 will serve as a stable and secure source of power for all the neighboring regions. At present, the plant generates 46% of electric power in the southern part of the country. Now, with Unit 4 commissioned, the Rostov NPP will account for 54% of total power output in Russia’s southern regions.

“Russian nuclear power plants have generated more than 147.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2018. A sizable contribution to this amount was made by Unit 4 at Rostov and Unit 1 at Leningrad-II NPP,” Rosatom’s Director General Alexey Likhachev said.