Scheduled preventive maintenance at the third power unit of the Balakovo NPP was completed 40 days ahead of schedule – the work was done in 126 days instead of the planned 166. The operating company carried out a large-scale modernization of equipment and restarted the unit after a series of technical operations.

During the repair, specialists performed about ten areas of modernization and maintenance. Sealed cable penetrations, tubular electric heaters of the pressure compensator, and the electric motor of the circulation pump were replaced. The low-pressure turbine cylinder was also repaired, and the rotor was removed from the generator stator. A separate stage was the reloading of nuclear fuel.

A key operation of this repair cycle was the replacement of two spent steam generators, which had been in operation since 1988. The new equipment is designed to operate until the end of the power unit's life cycle, which increases the reliability and stability of the entire system.

According to Alexey Sirotin, Chief Engineer of the Balakovo NPP, the reduction in terms was made possible by the introduction of lean manufacturing tools and digital solutions. At the same time, he noted that the coordinated work of the team played a decisive role, ensuring compliance with safety requirements while optimizing processes.

Earlier, "Perviy Tekhnicheskiy" reported that 163 uranium-free assemblies were placed in the Akkuyu NPP reactor. The simulators replicate real fuel assemblies in terms of design, mass, and geometric parameters, but do not contain nuclear materials.