Russian Atommash to ship reactor vessel to Belarusian nuclear power plant in October

The Volgodonsk-based branch Atommash of the Russian company AEM Technologies will ship the reactor vessel for the first power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant in October 2015, BelTA learned from Vitaly Shishov, Atommash Director of Operations.

The process to manufacture the reactor vessel is in its final stage. One of the most important steps was completed when threaded holes were made in the vessel for the sake of installing double-end bolts for the main connector. The enterprise will ship the reactor vessel to Ostrovets in October, said Vitaly Shishov.

The product is being prepared for hydraulic tests, during which it will be subjected to pressures as high as 24.5MPa. The tests are scheduled for 7-14 September, with preparations to begin on 31 August. The reactor vessel will be placed into the hydraulic testing chamber and filled with water as hot as 55-72C. Special sensors will be placed inside to record the tested parameters. The testing progress will be monitored by a commission combining representatives of various companies, including specialists of the enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant.

The reactor is a vertical cylinder with an elliptical bottom. The reactor core and the internal components will be located inside. The vessel’s walls are 200-400mm thick. The reactor is hermetically sealed by a lid that also bears the actuators and mechanisms meant to regulate the process and protect the reactor. The lid also contains pipe sleeves that will be used to feed cables from internal reactor control sensors.

Simultaneously the enterprise is busy making internal components of the reactor and the upper part’s lid.

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.

AEM Technologies was established in 2007. It is part of Atomenergomash, the mechanical engineering division of the Russian nuclear industry corporation Rosatom. AEM Technologies has an engineering division in Saint Petersburg and two manufacturing divisions in Petrozavodsk and Volgodonsk.