Safe operation and life extension of the RBMK plants

There are now eleven RBMK-1000 plants in operation in Russia and two RBMK-1500s in Lithuania. The paper discusses plant characteristics in normal operating conditions, as well as the safety enhancement and life extension upgrades. Details are given on the new core features, in particular, new fuel, reactor control and protection system, emergency cooling system, other systems and components. The authors describe the basic approaches towards and the results of the life extension activities carried out at the plants to extend their lifetime to 45 years. The highlights include the in-service inspection of the stainless steel pipes, including inspection tools and techniques, and main conclusions of the in-depth safety analyses reports prepared for Kursk 1 and Leningrad 1, including conclusions of the international reviews of these documents. The paper contains tables, performance and other diagrams. (author)