BelNPP and LenNPP 2 - energy of friendship

POWER UNDER THE SHELL

The second Leningrad nuclear power plant (LenNPP 2) is nearly ready and is well ahead of the Belarusian “twin” in construction progress. Concrete pouring operations began at the Russian construction site in 2008. Now the active phase of the construction of the first and second power-generating units is in progress. A reactor was installed in one of them a short while ago. There are dozens of auxiliary facilities around the “nuclear island”, administrative buildings are being erected as well as cooling towers and spray ponds. The scale of the design and the precision of its implementation are staggering.

Reliability is the key consideration during the construction of both the Belarusian nuclear power plant and the Leningrad one. “The configuration of the safeguards that the power plants will have is unparalleled in the world. For the first time we use four circuits of safeguards (passive and active ones), including the core catcher as a unique product developed by Russian scientists,” BelTA learned from Nikolai Kashin, Head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Second Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant Construction Directorate, which is a branch of OAO Rosenergoatom Concern. The safeguards can launch a response that is capable of stopping the spread of radiation in an emergency of any kind.

On the whole, the AES-2006 design, which is used to build both nuclear power plants is a result of the evolutionary development of the most popular kind of nuclear power plants and hence the most technically perfect one — a nuclear power plant with water-moderated energy reactor. Such reactors use light (common) water as a heat transfer agent and a neutron moderator. The electric output capacity of every power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant and the second Leningrad nuclear power plant is estimated at 1,200MW. The operating life of the primary equipment of the nuclear power plants is 60 years.

TESTING ALL THE WAY

The developers guarantee that the Belarusian nuclear power plant will be able to survive an earthquake as strong as eight points on Richter scale, can survive a powerful wave of water. It can also survive the fall of an aircraft weighing as much as 400 tonnes. The available durability has been tested by experiments using a unique product developed by Russian scientists — a virtual nuclear power plant.

“The virtual nuclear power plant is a kind of a dashboard that can be used to test all the potentially possible situations that can happen at the control panel of a real nuclear power plant,” said Yevgeny Obraztsov, Head of the Research and Development Lab of OAO Atomproject. The virtual nuclear power plant ensures the utmost safety of the facility and allows choosing the optimal operation mode.

The reputation the AES-2006 design has earned is the best confirmation of its quality. Many European countries have expressed interest in building nuclear power plants using the design. “Contracts are being signed with Finland, Vietnam, Hungary. Negotiations are in progress with a number of other countries,” noted Nikolai Kashin. Representatives of the nuclear energy industry from the People’s Republic of China where nuclear power plants with water-moderated energy reactors are already operational can say a lot about the reliability of the AES-2006 design.

According to Nikolai Kashin, there are a lot of difficulties involved in the construction of such a complicated installation like the nuclear power plant. Moreover, it is the first time a power-generating unit featuring VVER-1200 reactors is being built. However, the emerging problems help accumulate precious experience.

New technological solutions have been used more than once to optimize the construction process. For the first time the construction workers used the open top method of installation during the construction of the power-generating units of the second Leningrad nuclear power plant. Heavy equipment was lifted by a crane with the lifting capacity of 1,350 tonnes to be installed in its proper place. “The approach saves roughly 2.5 months of installation time and forgoes some installation operations,” BelTA learned from Alexander Chebotarev, Deputy Director for Capital Construction of the Second Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant. He went on saying that the new technology had allowed them to successfully assemble such a complicated component as the reactor’s shell. Apart from that, Russian engineers have also come up with the idea to use the pre-assembly method to install components.

Representatives of the Belarusian nuclear power plant regularly visit the construction site of the second Leningrad nuclear power plant to get familiar with the construction process. Since early September and till mid-October representatives of the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia (Rostechnadzor) and the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry will carry out a joint inspection of the facility. “We are always glad to welcome Belarusian colleagues. We keep no secrets from them. Contrariwise, we are always ready to share what we have learned,” said Alexander Chebotarev.

“It is surprising but the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant is always clean and in full order. No other nuclear power plants we examine can boast this state of affairs,” said Pavel Bezrukov, chief engineer of the project of OAO Saint Petersburg Research and Design Institute Atomenergoproekt (SPbAEP). He visits the construction site near Ostrovets virtually every month. Specialists of the project are also constantly present at the construction site.

Belarusian and Russian nuclear industry specialists share their experience and the best practices. Some time ago the construction of an information center began in Ostrovets. The center is designed to raise the awareness about the operation of the nuclear power plant and the development of the nuclear energy industry. In 2015 the construction of a similar information center will begin in the town of Sosnovyi Bor where the second Leningrad nuclear power plant is being built.

According to Nikolai Kashin, interaction between nuclear industry specialists in the Union State of Belarus and Russia will be an important area of work for the Russian information center. Specialists of the Belarusian nuclear power plant are likely to become the first people to use the center as a pulpit. Later on they will be glad to welcome their colleagues in Ostrovets.