In Pictures: Inner containment dome installed at Kursk II
16 December 2022
The structure weighing 256 tonnes has a diameter of 36 metres and has been installed in the design position on the reactor building of Kursk II's second unit.
The height of the reactor building is now 61.7 meters (Image: Rosatom)
The work was done in two stages - on 8 December, its lower part weighing about 220 tonnes was installed, as with the second stage, by specialists of LLC Trest RosSEM, part of Rosatom's engineering division.
The two parts of the inner containment dome were assembled on the construction site, in a process lasting 120 days, 10 days faster than on the first unit.
Andrei Osharin, first deputy director for the construction of new units of the Kursk NPP, said: "Mounting accuracy does not allow a deviation of more than 10 mm."
As soon as both tiers of the dome part of the shell are welded together, the concreting of the dome will start with these works planned to be completed in March next year.
Oleg Shperle, vice president of JSC Atomstroyexport, project director for the construction, said the installation "opens up a new frontier of work in the reactor building and makes it possible to start preparations for the installation of the reactor vessel, steam generators and the main circulation pipeline in comfortable conditions. And the first in this series will be the operations to connect and start up the polar crane".
Kursk II is a new nuclear power plant in western Russia that will feature two VVER-TOI reactors, the latest version of Russia's large light-water designs. They have upgraded pressure vessels and a higher power rating of 3300 MWt that enables them to generate 1300 MWe gross. Construction of the first unit began in 2018, its polar crane was installed in October 2021 and the reactor vessel in June 2022.
(All images: Rosatom)
Researched and written by World Nuclear News