The reactor vessel for unit 2 of the Leningrad Phase II nuclear power plant was installed yesterday, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom has announced. The installation work at the plant, which is in Sosnovy Bor in western Russia, used ‘open top’ technology, which “allows equipment to be inserted into the sealed area directly through the open top of the cylindrical part of the reactor building”, Rosatom said.
Using a heavy Liebherr crawler crane, the reactor vessel was lifted and moved over the cylindrical part of the containment building and installed within the concrete shaft of the reactor. The reactor vessel was manufactured by Rosatom subsidiary Izhorskiye Zavody manufacturing plant.
“Installing the reactor vessel is an extremely important operation. It opens up a whole host of work for the complete installation of equipment for the first circuit of the reactor installation, and it directly influences the commissioning conditions of the unit,” said Alexander Belyaev, chief engineer of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant Phase II project.
He also said the ‘open top’ technology had proved its effectiveness at the Leningrad II construction site in 2014, when the reactor vessel of unit 1 was installed. The technique has also been used at the Haiyang and Sanmen nuclear power plants in China, he added.
The existing Leningrad plant site has four operating RMBK-1000 units, while Leningrad II will have four VVER-1200 units. Testing of the passive heat removal system of unit 1 of Leningrad II was completed in late August.
Source: World Nuclear News
