Novovoronezhskii Atomic Power Plant

the largest atomic power plant in the USSR. Located in the settlement of Novovoronezhskii, 40 km from Voronezh. The rated power (as of 1972) is 1,455 megawatts (MW); there are four power modules. The first module, rated at 210 MW, was started up in 1964; the second (365 MW), in 1969; the third (440 MW), in 1971; and the fourth (440 MW), in 1972.

The plant has water-moderated water-cooled reactors, in which the water in the first loop, which passes through the core of the reactor, simultaneously serves as a neutron moderator and as a coolant to carry off the heat released in the reactor. The first power module has three 70-MW turbine units, the second power module has five 73-MW units, and the third and fourth modules have two 220-MW units each. A fifth power module, with a 1,000-MW water-moderated water-cooled reactor, was under construction as of 1974. Electric power from the Novovoronezhskii plant is supplied to the unified power grid of the Central Zone of the European part of the USSR through transmission lines operating at 110, 220, and 500 kilovolts.