Rosatom aiming for 100-year service life for reactors
Welding has been completed of the upper half of the VVER-1200 reactor vessel for El Dabaa nuclear power plant's second unit, with Rosatom saying that new materials and welding technologies can help increase the service life of reactors to 100 years.
The welding, at the Atommash production site in Russia, lasted for 20 days. About 3.5 tonnes of wire and 4.5 tonnes of flux were used for two ring welds and anti-corrosion surfacing was carried out to provide additional strength.
Viktor Orlov, director general of Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering Technology (TsNIITMASH), said: "The reactor vessel is a key element of any nuclear power plant equipment, the reliability of which determines the service life of the plant itself. Therefore, relying on the long-term experience of leading domestic schools and research by modern scientists, we are continuously improving metallurgical and welding-surfacing technologies used in the manufacture of reactor parts. As a result, the service life of reactors has already been increased from 30-40 years for first-generation reactors to 60-80 years for generation 3+ reactors. Now we see that this is not the limit - new materials will ensure a service life of NPPs of up to 100 years in the near future."
According to Rosatom "innovative structural materials, materials and welding technologies with increased radiation resistance and a reduced number of welds, which are the 'weak' point of any design", will help increase the service life to 100 years, with the works carried out as part of a national programme to develop "equipment, technologies and scientific research in the field of using nuclear energy".
The El Dabaa nuclear power plant project - about 320 kilometres north-west of Cairo - is based on contracts that entered into force on 11 December 2017. The plant will comprise four VVER-1200 units, like those already in operation at the Leningrad and Novovoronezh nuclear power plants in Russia, and the Ostrovets plant in Belarus.
The contracts stipulate that Rosatom will not only build the plant, but will also supply Russian nuclear fuel for its entire life cycle. They will also assist Egyptian partners in training personnel and plant maintenance for the first 10 years of its operation. Rosatom is also contracted to build a special storage facility and supply containers for storing used nuclear fuel.
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