Russia’s AEM-technologies has pre-assembled the reactor for unit 1 of the Rooppur NPP in Bangladesh at its Volgodonsk-based Atommash branch (part of Rosatom’s engineering division, Atomenergomash). AEM-technologies completed the control assembly of the reactor pressure vessel with internals in an underground stand-caisson, Atomenergomash said on 6 August. First, the specialists placed a 335-ton reactor vessel in the stand. Then the main elements of the internal control unit were installed inside the reactor: an 11-metre in-vessel shaft weighing 73 tons; a 38-ton baffle; and a block of protective pipes weighing 68 tons. During the assembly, the employees installed fixing dowels on all products, and fixed the devices for centring the reactor lid.
The reactor is a vertical cylindrical body with an elliptical bottom, inside of which the core and internals are located. The top of the reactor is hermetically sealed with a lid with drives of mechanisms and controls and protection of reactors installed on it and nozzles for outputting cables of sensors for in-reactor control. The Rooppur NPP is being designed and built according to a Russian project. Rooppur NPP with two VVER-1200 reactors is being built 160 km from Dhaka. Rooppur 1 is currently scheduled to start operating 2023, followed by Rooppur 2 a year later.
