27 December 2014

Russian Reactor Rostov‑3 Finally Generating Power

Russian Reactor Rostov-3 Connected to the Grid

Russian news agency TASS reported that the Rostov-3, located near the city of Volgodonsk, was connected to the national electricity grid for the first time on 27 December 2014. Construction, which originally started in 1983 and had been interrupted several times, took over 31 years. Startup of the VVER-1000 pressurized water reactor was delayed numerous times. It is all the more surprising that builder/operator Rosatom told TASS that the unit was “put into operation several months before the scheduled date”. Units-1 and -2 started up in 2001 and 2010 after 20 and 27 years of construction respectively.