ROSATOM organized first-ever virtual tour to Leningrad NPP for Turkish media

Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company and AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC with the assistance of regional center “Rosatom Middle East and North Africa” (companies of ROSATOM Russian State Nuclear Corporation) organized virtual tour to Leningrad NPP (branch of Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company) for leading Turkish media. This is the first media virtual tour organized to Leningrad NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Russia in terms of installation capacity.
Before coronavirus, more than 4 thousand people a year – Russian and foreign citizens – visited the Leningrad NPP.
The restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have become a driver for the development of new formats of communication with a foreign audience, and today specialists of Russian nuclear industry offer a unique opportunity to visit a nuclear power plant and communicate with Russian nuclear scientists online, literally from the screen of your personal device. This year, at Rosenergoatom, a project was launched to develop virtual tours to 5 Russian nuclear power plants, including the floating power plant. A virtual photo tour of the NPP in the 360 ° format with an imitation of full immersion in the process is the first industry project of this kind, designed, among other things, to promote Russian Generation “3+” power units globally.
Leningrad NPP Public Relations Department Manager Andrey Alberti, NPP Engineer Ruslan Kotykov and Leningrad NPP-2 Technical Expert Pavel Loginov attended the tour. Participants were provided information about the operating principles of Leningrad NPP-2, two of its units are based on “3+” Gen VVER-1200 reactor technology, the contribution of the plant to the economy of the region, its social and infrastructural development. In the 360-degree format photo tour different facilities of the units were shown to the media, such as turbine hall, main control room, personnel training center and even reactor hall, where personnel and media representatives entry are prohibited.
During the tour media also visited personnel training center which serves for training not only Russian, but foreign personnel of future plants.
The Akkuyu NPP personnel training programs, which ensure the safe and reliable operation of NPP equipment and systems, include several stages, such as theoretical training, on-the-job training and practical training at the NPPs in Russia and then at Akkuyu NPP. The training program for each specialist of AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC is determined taking into account the already existing experience at the NPP and the results of the input control of the level of knowledge.
Until 2021, more than 150 people have passed various stages of training for a position in specialized training centers of the Russian Federation and at nuclear power plants of the Russian Federation, including the Leningrad NPP. In 2021, training is planned for more than 200 people, including stages of internship and practical training at the Leningrad NPP and other nuclear power plants of the Russian Federation.
At the end of the virtual tour, media representatives virtually visited Sosnovy Bor, town where Leningrad NPP is located. Ruslan Kotykov explained Sosnovy Bor’s characteristics and the power plant’s contributions to the town. The speaker noted: “In fact, we are considering Leningrad NPP as ‘a facility that makes town’. NPP is a major contributor to social, economic, infrastructural development of the area. It became town out of the small village and nowadays it is a very comfortable place both for living and working. One of its perks is the beach and the nature around. Every year, different events with the contributions of the Leningrad NPP are held for both residents and guests from Saint Petersburg and other cities”.
According to surveys, the population of Sosnovy Bor supports nuclear energy: in the city, where about 67 thousand people live, more than 90 percent of the population have a positive attitude to nuclear energy. The plant itself employs about 6 thousand people, while the number of people employed in jobs related to the nuclear industry in the region reaches 30 thousand.
According to Andrei Alberti, “Nuclear energy is an integral part of the electricity production process in many countries. It plays an important role in meeting the growing demand for energy. In addition, it is an environmentally friendly and reliable source of energy. In addition to providing electricity to thousands of homes, it also provides jobs for thousands of people. The Leningrad NPP occupies an area more than twice as large as Monaco, at the same time it provides more than 50 percent of the energy consumption of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region».
At the end of the tour journalists got detailed answers and comments to their questions during a Q&A session.