More than RUB25 billion ($337m) was invested in the construction of Russia’s Kursk-II NPP in 2020.

The funds were used for construction of the main facilities including reactor buildings, turbines, cooling towers, as well as auxiliary facilities such as administrative buildings, backup power supply buildings, a pumping station, as well as the purchase of equipment.

Fifteen key events were planned in 2020, according to Aleksey Buldygin, head of the Kursk-II Capital Construction Department. “All of them were completed on schedule, and some were even ahead of schedule," he said.

Currently, 80 objects are under construction at the site. Next year we plan to start production of work at 33 more sites."

In 2020, a large amount of work was completed at the main construction sites. At the hall of the first unit, the ring foundation was concreted, the inclined colonnade was installed and the concreting of the exhaust tower began. The concreting of the ring foundation has begun at the cooling tower of the second unit. The structure of the building of the reactor compartment of the first unit has now reached to the level of 36 metres.

“In a pandemic, we took all the necessary measures in a timely manner to maintain the pace of construction. Approaches to acceptance of equipment at manufacturing plants and at the construction site were optimised. Protective measures were introduced for builders and a new procedure for staffing contractors with construction and installation personnel, which made it possible to contain the spread of infection. Next year, our main task is to build up the construction potential in accordance with plans that are increasing from year to year, " said Kursk-II Chief Engineer Alexey Volnov.

In 2020, the number of personnel at the Kursk-II construction site increased from 4000 to 7500.

Kursk II is a replacement station for the current Kursk nuclear plant. Commissioning of the first two units with the new design VVER-TOI reactors will be synchronised with the decommissioning of Kursk 1&2 of the operating plant.