Ostrovets plant meets construction safety rules

Friday, 7 November 2014

Belarusian regulator Gosatomnadzor has found that all the required safety measures are in place for the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant.

Ganz EEM pipes for Ostrovets plant (Image: AtomEnergoMash)

The plant is being built 18km away from Ostrovets, in Grodno Oblast, using the AES-2006 design developed by the Saint Petersburg-based R&D company Atomenergoproject.

Alexander Prikhodko, head of nuclear and radiation safety of nuclear facilities at Gosatomnadzor, said in a statement yesterday the preliminary results of a comprehensive inspection of the construction site showed that safety requirements had been met "in general". He added that certain "violations" had been observed, related to waterproofing works, input checks of equipment, construction, concreting and installation of reinforcement works, installation and mounting of lifting equipment.

"Gosatomnadzor representatives who have taken part in inspections at nuclear power plants in the Russian Federation say that similar violations have been seen with those, but these violations are not critical if they are corrected in a timely manner," he said. "It is important to understand that the goal of inspections is, first of all, to prevent violations."

The inspection of the construction of the Ostrovets plant took place between 27 October and 6 November. The inspectors will now prepare their findings, listing the violations and providing recommendations on how to address them, Gosatomnadzor said.

The inspection involved representatives of government agencies and departments responsible for overseeing the construction of the plant. They include the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department and the Safe Industrial Practices Department of the Emergencies Ministry, and the State Committee for Standardization. Their number also include representatives of the FSUE VO Safety – the nuclear safety arm of Russian regulator Rostechnadzor.

Ganz EEM, the Hungarian subsidiary of AtomEnergoMash, said today it has started manufacturing eight high-circulation pumps for the cooling system of the Ostrovets plant. This is not Ganz EEM's first order for Russian-built nuclear power plants. Between 2012 and 2013, it supplied 18 pumps to units 3 and 4 of the Rostov plant. Of those, seven have already completed a trial run.

Belarus' "most powerful hoisting crane" has been installed at the construction site of the Ostrovets plant, according to Belarusian news agent BelTA. A Liebherr 11350 hoisting crane with the lifting capacity of 1350 tonnes has been installed at the construction site of the plant, a source at the plant told BelTA. The primary arm of the crane is 72m long while the auxiliary arm is 36m long. The crane will be used to perform lifting and transportation operations with heavy objects and structures, including the installation of the molten core catcher, the reactors, and steam generators.

The power plant will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2400 MWe (2 x 1200 MWe). The Russian merged company OAO NIAEP – ZAO ASE is the general designer and the general contractor of the project. In line with the general contract for building the nuclear power plant the first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018, with the second one to go online in 2020.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News