Russia's largest generating unit to start delivering power May 1

VORONEZH. April 30 (Interfax) - The most powerful generating unit in Russia, the first VVER-TOI reactor unit at the Kursk 2 nuclear power plant has been put into operation and officially designated as active, the plant's communications department reported.

"The most powerful innovative generating unit in Russia, No. 1 at the Kursk 2 NPP with a VVER-TOI reactor unit with electric capacity of 1,253 MW (general designer and general construction contractor - Rosatom Engineering Division) has been put into operation and officially transferred to active status. State corporation Rosatom has signed all the necessary documents," the plant said in a press release.

The unit will officially begin supplying electricity and capacity for consumers in the country's Unified Energy System on May 1, the plant said.

Revenue from the unit's capacity and electricity is expected to total 11 billion rubles per month, including 9 billion rubles for capacity and about 2 billion rubles for electricity. Its launch will make it possible to additionally pay more than 10 billion rubles in taxes annually into Russia's budget system, the plant said.

The design annual output of the initial two-unit phase of the Kursk 2 NPP is 19.5 billion kWh. There are plans to build a total of four VVER-TOI units at the plant to replace units with RBMK-1000 reactors, which will increase its overall capacity by 20%.

The construction of the four units at Kursk 2 is part of the general plan for location of power plants in Russia to 2042 that the government approved in December 2024. There are plans to build a total of 38 new power units in the country in this period, including projects in seven new regions.