Enterprises of Rosatom’s Mechanical Engineering Division in St Petersburg and Petrozavodsk have manufactured and shipped a set of key equipment for the nuclear island of unit 4 of China’s Xudabao NPP in Liaoning province.
A 186-tonne pressure compensator for the VVER-1200 nuclear reactor has been shipped from the production site of the Izhora plant in St Petersburg. This is an important component of the reactor hall equipment and is designed to provide the necessary pressure in the primary circuit of the reactor. The pressure compensator will be delivered to China by rail and sea transport.
The Petrozavodskmash plant in Karelia has shipped the first of four main circulation pump unit housings (GTsNA – Glavnovo Tsirkulyatsionnovo Nasosnovo Agregata), which are included in the delivery package. This equipment, with an assembled weight of 48 tonnes, will be installed in the unit 4 reactor hall to ensure coolant circulation in the primary circuit. All the shipped products have passed all the necessary quality control testing procedures at all stages of manufacture. All tests were carried out with the participation of specialists from the Xudabao NPP.
The Xudabao project was originally expected to comprise six CAP1000 reactors with units 1&2 as the first phase. However, plans changed, and two Russian-supplied VVER-1200 reactors were instead designated for Xudabao 3&4 for which the contracts were signed in 2019. Rosatom is designing the nuclear islands for Xudabao 3&4, as well as supplying key equipment, providing field supervision, installation supervision, and commissioning services for the equipment supplied. The balance of plant will be supplied by China. Construction of Xudabao 3 began in July 2021, and unit 4 in May 2022. The commissioning of the units is scheduled for 2027-2028. The Xudabao NPP is owned by Liaoning Nuclear Power Company Ltd, in which CNNC holds a 70% stake with Datang International Power Generation Company holding 20% and State Development and Investment Corporation owning 10%.
Rosatom’s Izhora plant has already supplied pressure compensators as well as sets of hydraulic tanks of the emergency core cooling system for units 7&8 of China’s Tianwan NPP as well as pressure compensators for Xudabao unit 3. This is more than 700 tonnes of equipment. Petrozavodskmash has already supplied China with the GTsNA housing hull for Tianwan 7&8 and Xudabao 3. The total weight of the pumping equipment supplied to China for its NPPs will be about 800 tonnes.
