Virtual NPP software helps reduce construction costs

OAO Atomproject has been actively using the Virtual Nuclear Power Plant computerized program in the construction of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (BelNPP), Deputy Director General Director of the Department of WWER Technology Alexander Kazarin told an online conference hosted by BelTA on 20 December.

The company is the designer of the Virtual Nuclear Power Plant program. According to Alexander Kazarin, the program will be very useful for adjusting and startup procedures at new units. “The equipment will be first tested virtually which will enhance the accuracy of works and simultaneously reduce the time period and costs,” the official said.

In his words, the Virtual Nuclear Power Plant is fully applied software. “Thanks to super computer technologies and various computation codes we were able to develop a virtual control package for nuclear power plants. The simulator conducts the most complicated technological calculations and checks the work of NPP control systems in various regimes,” Alexander Kazarin said.

OAO Atomproject was founded at the basis of OAO VNIPIET Chief Institute and St. Petersburg’s Atomenergoproject on 1 July 2014. Atomproject is the leading company of Rosatom State Corporation. The company designs nuclear facilities, conducts research and developes new-generation nuclear power technologies.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built 18km away from the town of Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The BelNPP will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2,400MW (2x1,200MW). The Russian merged company OAO NIAEP – ZAO ASE is the general designer and the general contractor of the project. The AES-2006 design developed by the Saint Petersburg-based R&D company Atomenergoproject was chosen for building Belarus’ first nuclear power plant. The first power-generating unit of the nuclear power plant is scheduled for launch in 2018, the second one in 2020.