A pressure compensator for the VVER-TOI reactor plant has been installed at unit 1 of the Kursk-II NPP under construction in Russia. This is a key element of the main equipment of the reactor and is designed to create and maintain pressure in the primary circuit during normal operation, as well as to stabilise the parameters in transient operation modes. “We have entered a new stage in the construction of Kursk -II power units – this is the transition from the installation of large-sized and heavy equipment using the open-top method to installation using design lifting equipment of the reactor compartment – a polar crane and a transport portal,” said Kursk NPP Acting Director Andrey Osharin.
The installation was preceded by a lot of preparatory work. A special transport portal was installed in front of the reactor building to enable delivery of heavy equipment to the containment area of the reactor compartment. The polar crane was put into operation, which carried out the installation of the pressure compensator inside the reactor building.
“The pressure compensator is the first equipment of the reactor plant, to be delivered to the containment area through a transport lock, as the reactor building is already covered with a dome. First, the equipment was delivered to the transport portal with the help of a Liebherr crane and loaded onto a special transport trolley, on which it was moved inside the reactor compartment. Then, with the help of a polar crane, the compensator was installed in the design position,” said Alexei Buldygin, Head of the Capital Construction Department of Kursk-II.
Four steam generators and the reactor vessel will be installed using a similar method in the near future.
Meanwhile, a new method of concreting is being used at the unit 1 evaporative cooling tower. Specialists of SMU No. 1 on 27 April completed concreting of the 65th tier of the cooling tower, which will consist of 115 tiers and reach a height of 179 metres – the highest cooling tower in Russia. Earlier in April, the frame of the turbine building for unit 2 was fully assembled.
Kursk-II is a replacement station for the current Kursk nuclear plant. Commissioning of the first two units with the new design VVER-TOI reactors will be synchronised with the decommissioning of the RBMK reactors at Kursk 1&2 of the operating plant. Kursk 1 of the existing plant was permanently closed down earlier in December.
