Second reactor pressure vessel of Belarusian nuclear power plant installed

A reactor pressure vessel has been installed as part of the second power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, BelTA learned from the press service of the Russian group of companies ASE, which is the general designer and the general contractor for the project to build Belarus’ first nuclear power plant.

The reactor pressure vessel of the second unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant was placed in its intended position on 2 December. It was one of the key events in building this power-generating unit and the starting point for installing the core equipment of the primary coolant circuit.

The reactor pressure vessel was installed in two steps. The reactor pressure vessel weighs over 330 tonnes. It is 11 meters long and 4.5 meters in diameter. The piece of equipment was lifted onto the transport gantry and moved into the containment area on rails. After that a polar crane moved the vessel into the central hall of the reactor compartment and put it on the bearing ring inside the reactor pit.

“Installing a reactor pressure vessel into its specified position requires pinpoint precision,” noted Vitaly Medyakov, Vice President for the Belarusian nuclear power plant project at ASE Group. “Since the bearing ring handles all the weight, the axes of the reactor pressure vessel and the bearing ring cannot deviate from each other by more than one millimeter.”

The VVER-1200 design, which is used to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant, is one of the world’s most advanced nuclear power plant designs. It is a Generation III+ design and is compliant with all the international norms and recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). A combination of active and passive safeguards is the key feature of the VVER-1200 design. The solutions the design has implemented are fully compliant with post-Fukushima nuclear power plant reliability requirements.

ASE Group was created as part of the efforts to form an engineering division of the Russian state nuclear industry corporation Rosatom. ASE Group was created by merging the industry’s top companies: NIAEP, ASE, Atomenergoproekt, and Atomproekt. ASE Group is one of the leaders of the world nuclear engineering industry and accounts for over 30% of the global market of nuclear power plant construction services. ASE’s representative offices and operation offices have been opened in 15 countries across the globe. Projects outside of Russia account for nearly 80% of the company’s portfolio.