Unique overview of a nuclear reactor

At the bridge connecting the third unit of the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) with the fourth unit, which is currently under construction, Alexander Belyaev, deputy chief engineer of the Rostov NPP, told the media team from Bangladesh that they were about to witness something unique. And unique it definitely was. It was the first day of December and winter had officially begun in Russia. We entered the massive building of the fourth unit, which, unlike the three other units of the same plant, had not been completed, and so had no heating system. In freezing cold weather, we were taken to an elevator, which took us to the top floor of the building of the fourth unit. "Now we are going to enter the reactor room, where the nuclear pressure vessel has just been installed." "It is one of those rare occasions where you can see the inside of a reactor vessel. When the uranium fuel is loaded, it will be confined, and you wont be able to see inside," Belyaev explained. We entered the room where the nuclear vessel had just been installed. It was a 320-tonne vessel, manufactured by OMZ subsidiary Izhorskiye Zavody. OMZ (Uralmash-Izhora Group or Objedinennye Mashinostroitelnye Zavody, United Heavy Machinery Plants), is a large Russia-based international heavy industry and manufacturing conglomerate. The vessel had been shipped via the Neva river to the construction site in May. On November 30, ROSATOM announced that the reactor pressure vessel had been loaded onto a special railway transportation trolley and moved into the transport gateway of Unit 4. The units polar crane was then used to raise the vessel into the central hall of the reactor building and lower it onto a support ring in the reactor compartment. The installation was completed on December 1. Belyaev said the installation of the reactor pressure vessel meant that the overall construction work was finished and that installation of the main equipment would now begin. He said the installation of the units four steam generators would be completed by the end of this year, with the installation of the main circulation pipework set to begin in January. Rostov NPP The Rostov Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), one of the most modern Russian NPPs, is located on the banks of the Tsimlyansk reservoir, nearly 14 km (8 miles) from the city of Volgodonsk. It is a major power provider in southern Russia. The plant accounts for 40 per cent of the total electricity generation in the Rostov Oblast. From Rostov NPP, electrical power is exported over PL-500 (Power Line-500) to the Volgograd Oblast and Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai and Stavropol Krai, and over two PL-220 lines to the town of Volgodonsk. It is one of a series of uniform nuclear plants designed with VVER-1000 reactors that meet the requirements of production line construction. The plants entire capacity was designed to cover the needs of the unified power grid of the Northern Caucasus. Recently, following an invitation from ROSATOM, a media team from Bangladesh visited the Rostov NPP to learn about its technology and safety standards. This correspondent from The Independent was part of the media team. On December 15, Bangladesh and Russia finalised the biggest-ever investment project in Bangladesh, worth USD 12.65 billion, by initiating the memorandum of understanding (MoU) of the general contract for construction, commission and operation of the proposed Nuclear Power Plant in Ruppur in Pabna. Plants safety standards On our visit to the plant, we were shown the operational procedure and the safety standards. We were taken into the control room of the third unit. Belyaev explained to us that the management of the Rostov NPP units is conducted with centralised control. The main technological processes are completed with remote control. The plant also has automatic regulation, based on autonomous regulators, as well as local control and management of auxiliary systems. About safety aspects, he said the reactor compartment hermetic cover of the power units allows it to withstand extreme environmental exposures, such as earthquakes up to an intensity of 7, waterspouts, hurricanes, air blasts, and plant crash. The turbine - К-1000-60/1500-2 – is steam, condensed, single-shaft, four-cylinder, with a nominal capacity of 1,030 MW. The generator is of TVV-1000-4 type, with a capacity of 24 kW. One of the most important aspects of NPP is its constant water supply and Rostov NPPs technical water supply is in reverse. For condensers, cooling of the first two reactors, they use a cooling pond 18 sq. km wide, separated from the Tsymlyansk reservoir by a rock dam 9.8 km long. A spray tank is included in the system to provide heat removal at the reactor cooling and heat release removal from the equipment. From the cooling pond, on the feeding channel, water comes to the block pumping station, from where it is delivered to the turbine condensers for the waste steam cooling, and then it is flushed into the open discharge channel for cooling. For the third and the under-construction fourth units, cooling towers are used instead of cooling ponds. Belyaev said the most important means to improve the power units safety and reliability is annual preventive scheduled maintenance. Multi-D model After visiting the plant, we were taken to a separate unit for the briefing on Multi-D technology. Natalya Savina, head of field engineering, made a presentation on the technology. She explained that with Multi-D, it is possible to design the construction and installation processes in detail, based on a 3-D model, optimise numerous aspects of NPP construction as early as at the stage of preparation for production, review various scenarios of resource utilization and, when necessary, make changes to the 3-D model to optimise it. She said construction project managers are not always able to watch the progress in the facility construction in real time. The actual condition of the facility is usually compared with the planned one, and this is the key source of information. A Multi-D tool that removes this limitation provides a spherical image of the facility from various angles in order to completely show all parts of the construction, and the relevant 3-D model. Multi-D helps receive factual information immediately on the progress in construction and reflect it in the 3-D model, she said, adding that due to the application of this technology, the construction of Unit 3 of the Rostov NPP was completed two months ahead of schedule. This saved seven per cent of the time and a huge amount of money. "We believe that in future, it would be possible to reduce the period of implementation of a nuclear power plant project by 10 per cent, using a systematic approach to work and requirements," she added.

 

 

 

Unique overview of a nuclear reactor

At the bridge connecting the third unit of the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) with the fourth unit, which is currently under construction, Alexander Belyaev, deputy chief engineer of the Rostov NPP, told the media team from Bangladesh that they were about to witness something unique. And unique it definitely was. It was the first day of December and winter had officially begun in Russia. We entered the massive building of the fourth unit, which, unlike the three other units of the same plant, had not been completed, and so had no heating system. In freezing cold weather, we were taken to an elevator, which took us to the top floor of the building of the fourth unit. Now we are going to enter the reactor room, where the nuclear pressure vessel has just been installed. It is one of those rare occasions where you can see the inside of a reactor vessel. When the uranium fuel is loaded, it will be confined, and you wont be able to see inside, Belyaev explained. We entered the room where the nuclear vessel had just been installed. It was a 320-tonne vessel, manufactured by OMZ subsidiary Izhorskiye Zavody. OMZ (Uralmash-Izhora Group or Objedinennye Mashinostroitelnye Zavody, United Heavy Machinery Plants), is a large Russia-based international heavy industry and manufacturing conglomerate. The vessel had been shipped via the Neva river to the construction site in May. On November 30, ROSATOM announced that the reactor pressure vessel had been loaded onto a special railway transportation trolley and moved into the transport gateway of Unit 4. The units polar crane was then used to raise the vessel into the central hall of the reactor building and lower it onto a support ring in the reactor compartment. The installation was completed on December 1. Belyaev said the installation of the reactor pressure vessel meant that the overall construction work was finished and that installation of the main equipment would now begin. He said the installation of the units four steam generators would be completed by the end of this year, with the installation of the main circulation pipework set to begin in January. Rostov NPP The Rostov Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), one of the most modern Russian NPPs, is located on the banks of the Tsimlyansk reservoir, nearly 14 km (8 miles) from the city of Volgodonsk. It is a major power provider in southern Russia. The plant accounts for 40 per cent of the total electricity generation in the Rostov Oblast. From Rostov NPP, electrical power is exported over PL-500 (Power Line-500) to the Volgograd Oblast and Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai and Stavropol Krai, and over two PL-220 lines to the town of Volgodonsk. It is one of a series of uniform nuclear plants designed with VVER-1000 reactors that meet the requirements of production line construction. The plants entire capacity was designed to cover the needs of the unified power grid of the Northern Caucasus. Recently, following an invitation from ROSATOM, a media team from Bangladesh visited the Rostov NPP to learn about its technology and safety standards. This correspondent from The Independent was part of the media team. On December 15, Bangladesh and Russia finalised the biggest-ever investment project in Bangladesh, worth USD 12.65 billion, by initiating the memorandum of understanding (MoU) of the general contract for construction, commission and operation of the proposed Nuclear Power Plant in Ruppur in Pabna. Plants safety standards On our visit to the plant, we were shown the operational procedure and the safety standards. We were taken into the control room of the third unit. Belyaev explained to us that the management of the Rostov NPP units is conducted with centralised control. The main technological processes are completed with remote control. The plant also has automatic regulation, based on autonomous regulators, as well as local control and management of auxiliary systems. About safety aspects, he said the reactor compartment hermetic cover of the power units allows it to withstand extreme environmental exposures, such as earthquakes up to an intensity of 7, waterspouts, hurricanes, air blasts, and plant crash. The turbine - -1000-60/1500-2 is steam, condensed, single-shaft, four-cylinder, with a nominal capacity of 1,030 MW. The generator is of TVV-1000-4 type, with a capacity of 24 kW. One of the most important aspects of NPP is its constant water supply and Rostov NPPs technical water supply is in reverse. For condensers, cooling of the first two reactors, they use a cooling pond 18 sq. km wide, separated from the Tsymlyansk reservoir by a rock dam 9.8 km long. A spray tank is included in the system to provide heat removal at the reactor cooling and heat release removal from the equipment. From the cooling pond, on the feeding channel, water comes to the block pumping station, from where it is delivered to the turbine condensers for the waste steam cooling, and then it is flushed into the open discharge channel for cooling. For the third and the under-construction fourth units, cooling towers are used instead of cooling ponds. Belyaev said the most important means to improve the power units safety and reliability is annual preventive scheduled maintenance. Multi-D model After visiting the plant, we were taken to a separate unit for the briefing on Multi-D technology. Natalya Savina, head of field engineering, made a presentation on the technology. She explained that with Multi-D, it is possible to design the construction and installation processes in detail, based on a 3-D model, optimise numerous aspects of NPP construction as early as at the stage of preparation for production, review various scenarios of resource utilization and, when necessary, make changes to the 3-D model to optimise it. She said construction project managers are not always able to watch the progress in the facility construction in real time. The actual condition of the facility is usually compared with the planned one, and this is the key source of information. A Multi-D tool that removes this limitation provides a spherical image of the facility from various angles in order to completely show all parts of the construction, and the relevant 3-D model. Multi-D helps receive factual information immediately on the progress in construction and reflect it in the 3-D model, she said, adding that due to the application of this technology, the construction of Unit 3 of the Rostov NPP was completed two months ahead of schedule. This saved seven per cent of the time and a huge amount of money. We believe that in future, it would be possible to reduce the period of implementation of a nuclear power plant project by 10 per cent, using a systematic approach to work and requirements, she added.