Czech engineering company Skoda JS announced on 10 July that it has concluded a contract with French company Framatome for the production and supply of two sets of EPR 1600MWe reactor pressure vessel internals for the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in the UK. The equipment supply includes core barrel, heavy reflector and upper internals which are analogous to the upper block of a VVER-1000 reactor.
The core basket weights approximately 80t, and is a welded and machine structure made of stainless steel designed for installing the reactor core and for directing and smoothing the distribution of coolant into the reactor core.
The heavy reflector, weighing approximately 100t, is stainless steel equipment comprising machined slabs with cooling orifices. It serves as a neutron reflector. The upper internals weigh 80t, and comprise a welded structure with tubes to guide the intermediate drive rods controlling the reactor output.
Skoda has similarly supplied its French partners for reactor construction projects in Finland and China. In 2010, the company supplied core barrel, heavy reflector (including machining individual forged slabs) and upper internals to Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 and in 2012 the same equipment, excluding machining individual forged slabs, to China’s Taishan 1. In both cases, the equipment has already been integrated into the reactors.
“Last year 68 % of Skoda’s revenues came from exports, which confirms its position as a major player in the field of supplies to the nuclear power industry,” said Vladimír Poklop, chairman of the Board and general director of the company. “There is long-term cooperation established with our French partners and we are proud to have retained our position within their supply chain.”
Skoda JS became part of the Russian engineering group OMZ in 2004. OMZ (initially the Ural machine-building plants) was established in 1996 based on Russia’s Ural Heavy Machinery Plant (Uralmashzavod) and the Welded Machine Building Plant.
Photo: Manufacture of the RPV internals for Olkiluoto 3 (Credit: Skoda)
