Russia’s YuE Sedakov Research Institute of Measuring Systems (NIIIS), a branch of Russian Federal Nuclear Centre – All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC – VNIIEF) said on 17 March that it had received a certificate of conformity as the manufacturer of equipment for the automated process control system of the Akkuyu NPP under construction in Turkey. The certificate was issued following a visit to NIIIS by representatives of the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency. The certificate gives permission for the development, manufacture and supply of equipment for upper-level systems of automated process control systems for power units 1-4 of the Akkuyu NPP. Currently NIIIS is carrying out experimental design work to create 14 new types of software and hardware in accordance with the requirements of the contract.
Also on 17 March, OKB Gidropress (part of Rosatom’s mechanical engineering branch Atomenergomash, said it had shipped 2,050 expanded graphite gaskets for unit 1 of the Akkuyu NPP. The gaskets will be used for the upper block of the reactor plant. A few days earlier, 180 expanded graphite gaskets had been shipped for Akkuyu units 1&2. Expanded graphite gaskets of various standard sizes designed and manufactured at Gidropress are used for hermetic sealing of VVER reactor equipment seals at operating and newly commissioned NPPs in Russia and abroad. Expanded graphite gaskets can also be used in thermal power engineering, petrochemical industry, automotive industry.
Meanwhile, another Atomenergomash subsidiary, Energomashspetsstal (EMMS), is manufacturing a reactor vessel shell for unit 3 of the Akkuyu NPP, Atomenergomash said on 17 March. An ingot weighing 415 tons, intended for the manufacture of this shell, was cast in an electric arc furnace. The ingot has been delivered to the automated forging complex AKK-15000 ton-forces for forging. The machining of the product will be carried out on the Qiqihaer Heavy CNC Equipment Co turning and boring machine, which was specially purchased by the company for large-size shells.
It is planned to complete the manufacture of the shell in the third quarter of 2021. The net weight of the product after the end of the machining process will be 119.55 tons (diameter – 4.6 metres, height – 5.3 metres).
The contract for the manufacture of blanks for the reactor vessel of Akkuyu 3 was signed by EMSS in 2020. Under the contract, EMSS will manufacture and supply 10 parts of the VVER-1200 reactor vessel, including the large-size shell. To date, nine of 10 RPV parts are ready and have been shipped to the customer.
Energomashspetsstal has been supplying blanks for the Akkuyu plant since 2016. These included 4,763 tons of blanks for the key equipment of Akkuyu 1&2. The enterprise has manufactured hundreds of parts for the reactor vessel, steam generators, pressure compensator, main circulation pumping unit (MCPA), main circulation pipeline and other equipment of the nuclear island.
The Akkuyu NPP construction project, the first in Turkey, is being implemented by Akkuyu Nuclear following an intergovernmental agreement signed between Russian and Turkey in 2010. The Akkuyu NPP with four VVER-1200 units is being constructed on a build-own-operate basis by Rosatom, with commissioning of the first unit planned for 2023.
