Vessel installed at third Tianwan unit

27 May 2015

The Russian-supplied VVER-1000 reactor pressure vessel for the third unit of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province has been installed.

Tianwan 3 RPV installation - 460 (CNEC)
The vessel was hoisted vertically before being lowered into the reactor compartment (Image: CNEC)

The vessel - weighing almost 317 tonnes and measuring over 11 meters in length and 4.5 meters in diameter - was successfully located on its support ring within the containment building at 12:56pm on 22 May, plant constructor China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (CNEC) announced.

The pressure vessel was produced in Russia by OMZ subsidiary Izhorskiye Zavody under a contract awarded in 2010 for the manufacture of the vessels for both Tianwan units 3 and 4.

Tianwan 3 and 4 will be AES-91 VVER-1000 units designed by Gidropress and supplied by Russian state firm Rosatom. AtomStroyExport is the main contractor, supplying the nuclear island. First concrete for unit 3 was poured in December 2012, while construction of a fourth began in September 2013. Unit 3 is scheduled to begin operating in February 2018. Two similar reactors (units 1 and 2) began operating at the site in 2007.

The Tianwan plant is owned and operated by Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation, a joint venture between China National Nuclear Corporation (50%), China Power Investment Corporation (30%) and Jiangsu Guoxin Group (20%).

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News