AEM-Technology starts production of NPP reactor shell for Belarus

Russian AEM-Technology has launched the production of a reactor shell for the first generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, BelTA learnt from director of the company’s sales department Alexander Gavryushkin.

The AEM-Technology won the relevant tender on 19 March. An industrial site for the production of the reactor shell has been determined. It is the AEM-Technology’s subsidiary in Volgodonsk, the Russian Federation. The company has just completed the similar order for the Baltic NPP.

“Our company will also produce a molten-core catcher for the unit. We foresaw our victory in the tender that is why we began the preparation of all necessary documents before the announcement of the winner,” Alexander Gavryushkin said.

“High responsibility is the top priority of the order. We fully understand it that is why we won the tender. It will be a rector of the first Belarusian station and it will be in the eye of other our and your neighbors, and it lays even greater responsibility on us,” the director of the department said.

Under the contract, the order shall be fulfilled by the end of 2015. After that the details of the reactor shell will be delivered to the Ostrovets site.

AEM-Technology will deliver a reactor shell, internals, a set of protective pipes and an upper unit as well as support rings and other equipment. “In fact, it is the core of the station, and we understand that without our product the construction of the power plant will get stuck at some point. That is why we did all the preliminary work required for the implementation of the order before the winner of the tender was named. We worked out all the documentation, the production schedule and even the supplies route,” Alexander Gavryushkin said.

In his words, the company’s delegation visited the Belarusian NPP construction site to make sure in a high level of the ongoing construction works.

According to chief of the projects department of the Volgodonsk subsidiary of the AEM-Technology Vladimir Semikopenko, a reactor shell for the Belarusian plant is identical to those built for other nuclear facilities, but with this it has its peculiarities.

According to the producer, the reactor shell of the Belarusian NPP will weigh 337 tonnes and will be nearly 10-meter long and will have about 4.8 meters in diameter. The product has an extended operating life, up to 100 years. “As the experience shows, such vessels are very reliable. The Belarusian reactor shell will be even more reliable as it will have an increased overall dimensions and higher capacity. It is a new evolutionary step of pressurized water reactors,” Vladimir Semikopenko stressed.

In his words, the plant in Volgodonsk has a unique technical basis. Stamping and rolling technologies are applied in the production of the reactor shell details. “For the shipment of ready-made products we have two special piers with installed cranes of the total 650-tonne payload,” said Vladimir Semikopenko.

The reactor shell for Belarus is likely to be delivered by sea to the Klaipeda port and then by a special road train. There is also a second variant: among the Dnieper and than by the automobile vehicle.

The representative also stated that the supplier would be defined in a tender. Then they will decide on the route.