18.10.2017  INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF LENINGRAD NPP

Leningrad NPP: the metal control of all four main circulation pump units has been carried out at the power unit under construction

The phase of the main equipment review continues at the construction site of the fifth power unit of Leningrad NPP. The specialists carried out the metal control of all four main circulation pump units (MCPU) of the VVER-1200 power unit.

The results of various diagnostic methods confirmed that the temperature and pneumatic loads close to operational ones did not have a negative impact on this equipment. Previously, the reactor vessel, the internal shaft, the baffle, the protective tube unit, and the steam generators also successfully passed the pre-operational control of the metal.

“The main circulation pump units are a part of the main technological equipment of the primary circuit, which was subjected to colossal loads during cold and then hot equipment trials”, Aleksey Aksenov, the Deputy Head of the Metal Defect Detection and Technical Control Department at Leningrad NPP-2, says. “The main circulation pump units were controlled by all the methods provided by the standard and operating programs; they include visual-measuring, capillary, and ultrasonic methods. On the outside of each MCPUs, the base metal of the spherical dome with the nozzles, the metal between the threaded sockets of the main connector, the sealing surfaces, and the seal fasteners of the main connector were controlled. On the inside we checked the quality of the welded joints of the nozzles and the main metal of the dome. There were no comments on the results of the MCPU spherical dome control. We also performed nondestructive control of the sealing surfaces of the accumulators of the emergency core cooling system, whose fasteners were tested earlier. Today we can say that the pre-operational metal control, being carried out as part of the equipment review, has been fully implemented.”

The equipment review is one of the most critical stages before the physical launch of the unit. The control measurements, which took 26 days to complete, confirmed that all the equipment and pipelines of the Leningrad NPP newly built power unit have a high safety margin and will be used effectively, reliably, and safely over the next 60 years.

After the equipment review is completed, we will begin the physical power unit start-up stage. It is scheduled for 2017.

The Leningrad NPP is an affiliate company for Rosenergoatom Concern OJSC. The plant is based in the city of Sosnovy Bor, 40 km to the west from Saint Petersburg at the Gulf of Finland shore. The Leningrad NPP is the first Russian nuclear power plant having RBMK-1000 reactors (uranium-graphite channel-type thermal neutron reactors). The NPP exploits 4 power blocks with the electric capacity of 1000 megawatt each. Also, pursuant to the NPP-2006 project, 1,2 VVER-1200 power blocks included into The State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM long-term plan are being constructed. Rosenergoatom Concern OJSC is the owner and developer of the project. Holding TITAN-2 is the primary contractor. ATOMPROEKT is the general designer.
 


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