The concreting of the inner containment dome of the reactor building of unit 2 at the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh has been started.
Workers begin concreting the inner dome of Rooppur 2 (Image: Rosatom)
More than 3200 cubic metres of concrete will be pumped onto the 17.6-metre-high reinforced concrete structure, with a diameter of 42.8 metres at its base, using four concrete placement booms.
The work is being carried out by Trest RosSEM LLC, part of the engineering division of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, which is constructing the plant.
“The final stage of building the passive safety system has just started,” said Alexey Deriy, vice president and project director for the construction of the Rooppur plant at Russia’s ASE JSC. “We will be able to optimise the concreting process by replicating the experience gained in performing similar work, in the reactor building at power unit 1.”
A major lift in late-June put in place the steel structure of the inner dome on the second reactor at Rooppur. The work was completed 56 days more quickly than the same operation for unit 1 due to experience gained.
The dome will become part of an airtight containment structure important for nuclear safety. During construction the dome also creates better conditions inside the building to fit the components and systems of the reactor itself.
The construction of the Rooppur plant began in 2017. The site is located on the east bank of the River Ganges, in the Pabna district, about 160 km northwest of the capital Dhaka. The two VVER-1200 pressurised water reactors are scheduled to start generating power in 2023 and 2024, respectively. They will be owned and operated by the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission. The government of Bangladesh has said it will consider a further nuclear power plant once Rooppur is in operation.
The first VVER-1200 reactor to enter operation, at Novovoronezh II in Russia, is the reference plant for what will be Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant.
Source: World Nuclear News
