In the reactor building of power unit No. 1 of the Kursk NPP-2, specialists installed eight hydraulic reservoirs of the passive core flood system in their proper location.

These hydraulic tanks refer to the second of the three stages of the passive part of the emergency core cooling system, the operation of which is based on natural processes that do not require operator intervention and energy source.

“The tanks are designed to cool the reactor core in any emergency situations.  The joint sequential operation of three stages of hydroelectric tanks provides the cooling of the reactor core and guarantees the transition of the reactor plant to a safe state in case of any combination of initiating events,” explained Andrei Osharin, first deputy director for construction of new units at the Kursk NPP.

Each hydraulic reservoir of the passive core flood system is a vessel with a height of more than 10 meters, weighing 77 tons and a volume of 120 cubic meters.  The work on their installation is particularly difficult.  The installation was performed by the specialized installation organization Energospecmontazh, which is part of the Rosatom Engineering Division.  Before the installation, the body of the tank is installed on the fastening element, after which, when assembled, it is moved by the Demag crane to the design position at the mark of 26.3 meters - the overlap of the central hall, where it is mounted on the embedded part.  All 8 hydraulic tanks were installed within 7 days.

 “The installation of the hydraulic tanks was made exactly according to the schedule.  This provided the opportunity for the installation of the fifth tier of the inner containment shell of the reactor building of power unit No. 1.  The hydraulic tanks of the passive core flood system are the last of the large-sized equipment of the reactor building to be installed at the design site by an open method, ” said Oleg Shperle, Vice President - Director of the Kursk NPP Construction Project of the ASE Group.

Earlier, at the beginning of the year, four hydraulic tanks of the first stage of the emergency core cooling system were installed in their proper location.  Installation of the third stage hydraulic tanks is expected later.