VVER units take shape in Russia and Bangladesh

Wednesday, 5 January 2022

"The installation of the dome is a landmark event in the process of construction of Kursk-II," said Oleg Shperle, vice president of Rosatom subsidiary Atomstroyexport and director of the construction project.

The 265-tonne structure was lifted with a large crawler crane on 27 December, forming a sealed dome over the reactor building. Atomstroyexport said this creates better conditions for the installation of the reactor system, steam generators and activation of the polar crane, which will now begin.

The dome remains to be concreted, a procedure which will begin in March. A further outer dome also remains to be added to complete the double-walled containment building of the reactor unit.

The Kursk-II plant is the first of Russia's latest large reactor design, the VVER-TOI, which is optimised in terms of standardisation and digitisation. Rosatom's current export model is its predecessor, the VVER-1200, which itself is an evolution and enlargement of other VVER designs operating in Russia, Eastern Europe, India and China.

In Bangladesh, two VVER-1200s are under construction by Atomstroyexport at Rooppur. The company reported that it concreted the fifth and final containment ring of Rooppur 2 on 24 December. Atomstroyexport's director of construction at Rooppur, Alexey Deriy, said this was done "much earlier than the deadline." The reactor's inner containment dome is being assembled on site and is slated for lifting and placement in the first half of this year, Atomstroyexport said.