Russia's state-run nuclear corporation Rosenergoatom has announced that the Leningrad II-1 nuclear reactor located in Sosnovy Bor, near St. Petersburg (Russia) has completed all the required commissioning tests and is now ready for commercial operation. The reactor was connected to the Russian grid in March 2018 and is now planned to be put in industrial operation by the end of 2018. Once completely operational, the unit will become the second Russian unit to come onstream in 2018 after the Rostov-4 power plant in Volgodonsk (connected to the domestic grid on 1 February 2018).
The existing Leningrad plant site entails four operating RMBK-1000 units, while Leningrad II is expected to include four VVER-1200 units. It will be the second VVER-1200 reactor to start up, after Novovoronezh-6 in 2016. Leningrad II-2 is expected to be connected to the grid in late 2019 and to be commissioned in 2020.