I offer you a brief overview of notable events associated with nuclear power in the Murmansk region.
Let’s say, the year began without a peep: a nuclear unit №1 stopped on January 12 about 3:40 am at the Kola Nuclear Power Plant in Polyarnye Zori of the Murmansk. According to some reports, it was caused by an insulation breakdown.
It was managed to insert and to bring the unit back to operational status only at 9:29 pm. It is notable that this was the second emergency for three months. Note that the run life of unit №1 is nearly over and should be withdraw from service in 2018-2019.
On June 29 unit №1 celebrated the 40th anniversary as from the date of the launching.
In November, KNPP was checked: from November 12 till November 22 the company was examined by a team of experts headed by the manager of the Inspectorate of safety of concern Pavel Medvedev. The subjects to inspection were power units and manufacturing facilities of the industrial site.
"An inspection of such level with participation of a representative team of specialists of nuclear energy was carried out in the station for the first time, — said the KNPP director Vasily Omelchuk at the closing meeting. — Passed verification is one of the tools to improve the overall security of the enterprise, allowing international inspectors to look deeper, as Russian standards and requirements in the field of nuclear energy are often more conservative than the requirements and recommendations of the IAEA."
However, a few days later KNPP went haywire again; November 24, 10:29 am the unit №4 automatically stopped due to the false warning of heating medium temperature. This incident, in turn, has led to activation of the emergency power cutoff SLSA-2 on the units of the branch of OJSC "IDGC of the North-West" "Kolenergo".
However, in December, deputy of chief engineer Igor Marakulin said that the power ascension program of the unit №4 has undergone an environmental examination and KNPP plans to increase capacity of the unit №4 by 7 percent.
What should expect people of the Kola Peninsula from the NPP next year — that remains to be seen; but permanent station malfunctions occurring immediately after the inspections and also plans of Rosatom to increase the capacity of problematic reactors may not represent the best prospects.