RBMK-1000
The RBMK-1000 is a Generation II light water graphite reactor. 7 units are operating and 0 are under construction, out of 19 on record.
The Soviet graphite-moderated, water-cooled pressure tube reactor. Its positive void coefficient at low power, combined with a control rod design that briefly added reactivity on insertion, produced the 1986 Chernobyl accident. Surviving units were retrofitted with higher fuel enrichment and faster shutdown systems. None has been built since; the remaining units are in Russia and are being retired.
| Vendor | built by consortium, no single vendor |
|---|---|
| Reactor type | Light water graphite reactor (LWGR) |
| Generation | II |
| Capacity range | 1000 MWe gross |
| Also recorded as | RBMKin the source tracker |
| Coolant | Light water |
| Typical enrichment | 2–2.6% U-235 |
| Russia | 13 units, 7 operating |
|---|---|
| Ukraine | 6 units |
How long it took to build
Years from construction start to grid connection, for units with both dates on record. The median across 15 finished units is 5.8 years.
| Unit | Country | Started | Connected | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leningrad nuclear power plant 1-1 | Russia | 1970 | 1973 | 3.8 |
| Leningrad nuclear power plant 1-2 | Russia | 1970 | 1975 | 5.1 |
| Kursk nuclear power plant 1-1 | Russia | 1972 | 1976 | 4.6 |
| Chernobyl nuclear power plant 1 | Ukraine | 1970 | 1977 | 7.6 |
| Chernobyl nuclear power plant 2 | Ukraine | 1973 | 1978 | 5.9 |
| Kursk nuclear power plant 1-2 | Russia | 1973 | 1979 | 6.1 |
| Leningrad nuclear power plant 1-3 | Russia | 1973 | 1979 | 6.0 |
| Leningrad nuclear power plant 1-4 | Russia | 1975 | 1981 | 6.0 |
| Chernobyl nuclear power plant 3 | Ukraine | 1976 | 1981 | 5.8 |
| Smolensk nuclear power plant 1-1 | Russia | 1975 | 1982 | 7.2 |
| Kursk nuclear power plant 1-3 | Russia | 1978 | 1983 | 5.5 |
| Chernobyl nuclear power plant 4 | Ukraine | 1979 | 1983 | 4.7 |
| Smolensk nuclear power plant 1-2 | Russia | 1976 | 1985 | 9.0 |
| Kursk nuclear power plant 1-4 | Russia | 1981 | 1985 | 4.6 |
| Smolensk nuclear power plant 1-3 | Russia | 1984 | 1990 | 5.7 |
All RBMK-1000 units
Sources
- RBMK-1000, vendor documentation
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data