04.02.2019  INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF LENINGRAD NPP

Concreting of the reactor building’s interior structures for the 2nd VVER-1200 power block has been completed at the Leningrad NPP

The major works on concreting the reactor building’s interior structures have been completed at the Leningrad NPP’s 2nd VVER-1200 power block: the team has placed concrete on the walls and the bottom of the refueling cavity, which is design to handle nuclear fuel.

‘The completion of the reactor’s interior structures concreting means that we can finalize the lining of the cooling pond and carry out hydraulic pressure tests on it’, Alexey Mochalov, the deputy head of the Leningrad NPP-2 reactor workshop, said. ‘In 2019, we plan to complete the outer structures of the reactor’s building, that is, the double containment. Following that, we can confirm that the second power block’s reactor building is fully ready from the construction prospective’.

The concrete itself is another safety barrier thanks to its composition, as it contains iron-ore and cast-iron elements. ‘We are using high-density concrete that absorbs radiation well, protects the nuclear power plant’s staff, and can be operated under high radiation and thermal load for a long time’, Pavel Ivanov, the lead engineer of the construction control department at the Leningrad NPP-2 capital construction unit, noted.

He also noted that the concrete vendor has tried and tested the technology of producing this type of concrete: regular trials of the concrete specimen have confirmed its high quality. All in all, over 180 cubic meters of concrete mix were placed, with the thickness of the concrete layer being between 800 and 1200 millimetres. 

The Leningrad NPP is the country’s first plant with RBMK-1000 reactors (uranium-graphite circuit-type reactor running on thermal neutrons). The decision that marked its construction was taken in September 1966 by a resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR and the Council of Ministers No. 800-252. According to that document, the Leningrad NPP was supposed to become a core in a network of nuclear power plants with RBMK-1000 reactors that were supposed to produce a substantial share of electric power. The construction of the Leningrad NPP was going well, and by 1973 the first power block was fully erected. On December 23, 1973, following stable 72-hours’ operation at the capacity of 150 megawatt, the State Commission signed the acceptance certificate stating that the first power block of the Leningrad nuclear power plant is commissioned for pilot production.



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