Volgodonsk-based Atommash starts making two nuclear reactors for Belarus

The Volgodonsk-based enterprise Atommash (a branch of ZAO AEM Technologies) has started making two reactors for the Belarusian nuclear power plant, Russian mass media quoted Atommash’s Director for Operations Vitaly Shishov as saying.

Vitaly Shishov said the factory’s equipment, which is used to make nuclear energy equipment, had been modernized and commissioned. Now the factory is building a reactor for the Baltic nuclear power plant to ship it in 2014. The work to create two reactors for the Belarusian nuclear power plant is starting. The two reactors will be shipped in 2015 and 2016. Equipment for other nuclear stations is being manufactured, too.

The executive remarked that despite the fact that Atommash turned out its last reactor in 1986, the enterprise has been making nuclear energy equipment while keeping up the qualification of the personnel all these years. Vitaly Shishov reminded that the enterprise was built in the Soviet times to make eight reactor sets per annum, however, the production of reactors was suspended after the Chernobyl catastrophe.

The Volgodonsk-based factory Atommash can now make four reactors per annum in addition to accompanying relevant equipment for nuclear power plants, Yevgeny Pakermanov, Director General of ZAO AEM Technologies, a daughter enterprise of Russian OAO Atomenergomash, told media. In his words, the manufacturing capacity is sufficient because at present two or three sets can satisfy the industry’s demand. The factory has made a total of 13 reactors so far.

Yevgeny Pakermanov also noted that Atommash’s orders portfolio has increased by nearly five times within less than a year to reach RUB10.3 billion. While in August 2012 orders on hand amounted to RUB2.2 billion, in May 2013 the figure reached RUB10.3 billion. The figure is expected to exceed RUB11 billion by the end of the year. Yevgeny Pakermanov attributed the growth to the rising number of orders for nuclear energy equipment – as much as RUB9.4 billion worth of orders for now. In August 2012 their volume stood at RUB1.2 billion. Apart from nuclear energy industry products Atommash also manufactures equipment for the conventional energy industry and the oil and gas industry.

A nuclear power plant is being built in Belarus using a Russian design. The power plant fully complies with requirements of the national legislation and recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Belarusian nuclear station design relies on the AES-2006 design developed by the Saint Petersburg-based R&D and design institute Atomenergoproject. The AES-2006 design is now being used to build the second Leningrad nuclear power plant and the Baltic nuclear power plant.

The Belarusian nuclear station will have two power-generating units with the total output of up to 2,400MW. The general contractor is the Russian company OAO NIAEP – ZAO Atomstroyexport. The first power-generating unit is scheduled to go online in 2018.