First steam generator delivered to Belarusian nuclear power plant construction site

The first of the four steam generators intended for the first power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant has been delivered to the construction site, BelTA learned from the Information and Public Relations Office of the enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant.

The steam generator weighs over 400 tonnes. The device is about 16 meters long. The cargo was delivered to the construction site by railroad using a special transporter.

The steam generator is part of the core process equipment of the nuclear power plant. It is a heat exchange device designed to produce steam that will be fed to a turbine that will generate electricity. The steam generators for the Belarusian nuclear power plant are made by the Volgodonsk-based branch Atommash of the Russian company AEM Technologies, which in turn is part of Atomenergomash, the mechanical engineering division of the Russian nuclear industry corporation Rosatom.

Apart from that, a circular-motion travelling crane (a polar crane) for the first power-generating unit has been delivered to the construction site of the Belarusian nuclear power plant as well. The crane can lift 360 tonnes of cargo.

The polar crane will be installed under the dome of the reactor building’s hermetic shell. During the construction process the crane will be used to move cargoes and install the core equipment (the reactor, steam generators, and so on). Once the power plant goes operational, the polar crane will be used to handle nuclear fuel, to install and uninstall equipment during repairs. The crane has been made by the Russian company OAO Tyazhmash.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build an AES-2006 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The Belarusian nuclear power plant will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2,400MW (2x1,200MW). In line with the general contract for building the nuclear power plant the first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018, with the second one to go online in 2020.