The Russian Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor) has issued operating licenses for the Leningrad II-1 nuclear unit in Sosnovy Bor in the Leningrad Oblast (Russia) and the Rostov-4 unit near Volgodonsk (Russia). These announcements mark the end of the testing phase and pave the way for the commissioning of both reactors by the end of 2017. The licenses allow the plant operator RosEnergoAtom to launch the "physical start-up" of the reactors, load nuclear fuel into the units and start commercial operations.
The Leningrad II nuclear project includes two new AES-2006 reactors (Leningrad II-1 and Leningrad II-2) of 1,085 MW net each, on the site of the existing Leningrad nuclear facility (four 925 MW units).
The Rostov nuclear power plant consists of three VVER-1000 reactors with an installed capacity of 1,000 MW each. Rostov-1 was put into commercial operation in 2001, Rostov-2 in 2010, while Rostov-3 was commissioned in September 2015.