Rostov Nuclear Power Plant Cuts Scheduled Outage by Five Days Through Digitalized Maintenance
Digital workflow tools introduced at Rostov NPP have shortened a planned maintenance outage, delivering additional electricity to the grid and demonstrating how process digitalization can directly strengthen power-system reliability.
How Maintenance Used to Work
During scheduled preventive maintenance, information on equipment condition was previously recorded on paper logs, then manually digitized and passed between departments by phone. Each handoff introduced delays and the risk of errors. In total, this process consumed about 240 minutes of working time every day.
Engineers from the plant’s core divisions – turbine, reactor, electrical, thermal automation, and other units – came together to streamline the process using tools from Rosatom’s Production System. This internal methodology focuses on identifying and eliminating inefficiencies across industrial operations.
What Changed With Digitalization
The new system allows data to be entered and updated in real time from mobile devices into a shared digital register. All responsible staff can see the same up-to-date information without rewriting documents or making phone calls. As a result, daily information exchange time was reduced to 100 minutes.
The savings amount to roughly 140 minutes per day, or 851 working hours per year. This freed-up time from highly qualified personnel can now be redirected toward more complex engineering tasks, increasing overall productivity without expanding headcount.
The Scale of Scheduled Maintenance
Scheduled preventive maintenance is a highly complex operation. A power unit is shifted to reduced output, nuclear fuel is unloaded from the reactor core, major reactor maintenance is performed, safety systems are inspected, turbines and turbine generators are overhauled, and power supply systems are upgraded. Hundreds of specialists work in a tightly coordinated manner, while quality and safety standards remain uncompromised.
Impact on the Power System
Unit No. 3 was reconnected to the grid on 21 December 2025, exactly four and a half days ahead of schedule. As a result, the plant delivered an additional 110 million kWh of electricity that would otherwise not have been generated. Against the backdrop of rising electricity demand, this represents a meaningful contribution to the reliability of power supply in southern Russia.
Rosatom’s Production System operates through employee-driven initiatives rather than top-down directives. Specialists from turbine, reactor, electrical, and thermal automation divisions independently identified time losses and proposed solutions. According to the plant’s chief engineer, the system strengthens professional skills and improves the quality of technical decision-making.
Scaling Across the Industry
At Rostov NPP, digital solutions are now in use across all four power units. Similar projects are being implemented at other nuclear plants within the Rosenergoatom fleet.
Across all Russian nuclear power plants in 2025, the application of Production System tools reduced maintenance durations by a total of 149 days. This resulted in an additional 3.3 billion kWh of electricity generation. Overall nuclear output rose by 1.3%, reaching 218.3 billion kWh compared with 215.3 billion kWh in 2024.
Next Steps in Development
Today, electronic maintenance logs are widely replacing paper-based workflows. Looking ahead, the system could be integrated with equipment sensors, failure-prediction tools, and automated maintenance recommendations.
A shift from scheduled to predictive maintenance – where equipment is serviced at the onset of degradation rather than on a fixed timetable – could further reduce downtime and enhance system reliability.
