AEM Technology reaches milestone in Belarus reactor construction

AEM Technology said today that it has completed welding of the upper half of the VVER-1200 reactor vessel for unit 2 of the Belarus nuclear power plant, in Ostrovets, in the Grodno region. Based in Volgodonsk, Russia, AEM-Technology is part of Atomenergomash (AEM), itself a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

AEM Technology said today that it has completed welding of the upper half of the VVER-1200 reactor vessel for unit 2 of the Belarus nuclear power plant, in Ostrovets, in the Grodno region. Based in Volgodonsk, Russia, AEM-Technology is part of Atomenergomash (AEM), itself a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

The completed upper half of the reactor for unit 2 of the Belarusian plant (Image: Atomenergomash)

The welding process, conducted over 15 days, included a temperature of more than 200°C. The structure was then heated in a furnace at a temperature of 300°C "to obtain the desired mechanical properties of the metal", AEM said.

The reactor vessel is a vertical cylindrical body with elliptical base, in which the active zone and internals are located. The top of the reactor is hermetically sealed with a lid with drive mechanisms as well as monitoring and protection systems attached.

The upper part of the structure has connections for the supply and discharge of reactor coolant as well as for the supply of emergency coolant during a "depressurization circuit", AEM said.

The cost of equipment for the Belarusian nuclear power plant is estimated at $3 billion, Anatoly Bondar, chief engineer of SE Belarusskaya NPP, told reporters in Minsk on 18 December, according to Nuclear.Ru. This figure includes, Bondar said, long lead items of equipment that have a value of $1.6 billion.

Mikhail Mikhadyuk, the deputy energy minister of Belarus, added that large-scale installation of equipment would start at the plant next year.

Operation of the first unit of the Ostrovets plant is scheduled for November 2018 and the second unit in July 2020, to give 2340 MWe net capacity on line. In December 2011 the nuclear power engineering department of the country's energy ministry submitted an application for a construction licence to state nuclear regulator Gosatomnadzor.

During 2012 some site works were under way, with Russia's VNIPIET as main contractor, and excavation for the second unit started in February 2013. Construction of the first unit started in November 2013 with first structural concrete, though the full construction licence was not issued until April 2014. A construction licence for the base mat of unit 2 was issued by the ministry in February 2014. Construction of unit 2 started in May 2014, several months ahead of schedule.

Russian heavy machine-building company Atommash said in October it had completed production of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) for the Ostrovets plant. It is the first RPV manufactured at Atommash's production site after a nearly 30-year hiatus and the first since it became part of Rosatom in 2012.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News