Pressurizer in place at new Russian unit

The pressurizer has been installed in the reactor building of Novovoronezh Phase II unit 1, general designer and contractor AtomEnergoProekt (AEP) announced. Work to assemble and install the four main circulation pumps has also begun.

The pressurizer has been installed in the reactor building of Novovoronezh Phase II unit 1, general designer and contractor AtomEnergoProekt (AEP) announced. Work to assemble and install the four main circulation pumps has also begun.

The pressurizer is raised prior to its installation (Image: AEP)

The pressurizer - with a volume of 80 cubic metres and weighing 200 tonnes - was lifted by crane and placed on a special railed truck for movement into the unit's containment. It was then raised into position, at a height of over 14 metres, within the containment building using a polar crane.

The major component - together with the reactor pressure vessel, the main pumps and the heavy-gauge piping between them - makes up the primary coolant circuit of the pressurized water reactor. The pressurizer is designed to maintain the pressure within that circuit. When in operation, water temperatures within the circuit are at more than 300°C and the pressure is maintained at around 16.5 megapascals.

AEP has now started assembling the first of four main circulation pumps for Novovoronezh Phase II unit 1. Each complete pump, weighing more than 140 tonnes, is designed to pump over 25,000 cubic metres of water through the primary circuit every hour. The installation of all four pumps is scheduled to be completed in 2013.

Two AES-2006 VVER-1200 pressurized water reactors are being built as the second phase of the Novovoronezh site in western Russia. Construction of unit 1 began in June 2008. The reactors are scheduled to begin operating in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News