Nuclear Fishing

Novovoronezh hosts fishing championship of Russia

Fishing championship of Russia took place at the cooling pond of Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant June 11–12 2009
Over 70 sportsmen and 15 teams from different regions of Russia: Moscow and Moscow region, St.Petersburg, Voronezh, Rostov region, Republic of Tatarstan, Krasnodar region, Lipetsk region took part in the tournament. 7 of them were masters of sports of international category, 17 – masters of sports.

The water and the fish were inspected by special modern devices by specialists of the external radiation control laboratory. The results of the inspection showed that Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant had no impact on its cooling pond.

The Mach Fishing team from Moscow won the team contest, Maver from Moscow and the team of Voronezh region were the second and the third, respectively. Yuri Siptsov was the best among individuals followed by Ilya Yakushin and Andrey Kashtanov. All the three were from Mach Fishing. Despite hot weather the fishers caught as much as 150kg.

The sponsor of the tournament was Atomenergoprom OJSC. The winners were granted Atomenergoprom’s prizes (plasma TV sets), souvenirs of Energoatom Concern and Atomenergoproekt, certificates of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism of Russia. Deputy Director of Atomenergoprom OJSC Alexander Polushkin presented all participants with special prizes – zirconium spinners. 

The awarding ceremony was followed by a gala concert.

The fishing championship of Russia has been held for 12 times. The organizers of the event are the Russian Association of Public Organizations “Rosokhotrybolobsoyuz” and Atomenergoprom OJSC as well as Energoatom Concern and Atomenergoproekt.

The cooling pond of Novovoronezh NPP is a source of process water supply for the plant’s 5th unit. The volume of the pond is 32mln m3, the area – 4.9 km2, the average depth – 6.5 m, the maximum depth – 16 m, the maximum width 0 1.9 km, the length – 3.5 km.

For 15 years already the Environment Protection Department of Novovoronezh NPP has regularly stocked the pond with silver and grass carps. In the hot waters of the cooling pond boost the growth of water plants and shell fish, which block the plant water intake pumps. Silver and grass carps eat them and improve the situation.

33 tons of silver and white carp have been released into the pond in the last four years with 8 tons released this year.

The stocking of the cooling pond of the 5th unit of Novovoronezh NPP is part of the environment protection program of the plant and is aimed at implementing one of the key principles of the ecological policy of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation – close compliance with the ecological legislation and enhancement of the ecological safety.

Publications

Energoatom Concern OJSC: The concreting of the foundation plate of the 2nd reactor of Novovoronezh NPP-2 started

Energoatom Concern OJSC: Novovoronezh hosts fishing championship of Russia

 Experts’ comments

Vladimir Kuznetsov: If they are hosting a championship of such a level, they obviously set very tough requirements to the water and the fish

Yuri Raptanov: Rostekhnadzor, who recognized Russian NPPs as ecologically safe in 2008, checks up everything according to standards that are much tougher than worldwide

Dmitry Tsurikov: Revival of interest in nuclear energy is observed all over Europe