A VVER-1200 reactor vessel and four steam generators for unit 2 of the Rooppur NPP under construction in Bangladesh have been delivered to the site, ASE announced on 10 August. ASE, Rosatom's Engineering Division, is the general contractor for the plant. The heavy equipment of the unit 2 reactor compartment (reactor pressure vessel (RPV) – 333.6 tons; the steam generator – 340 tons) was manufactured at the Atommash plant in Volgodonsk, a branch of the AEM-technologies (part of Rosatom’s mechanical engineering division, Atomenergomash).
It took more than two months to transport the cargo. From the Atommash site, the equipment was transported to the special berth of the Tsimlyansk reservoir in Volgodonsk, loaded onto barges and delivered to Novorossiysk port by waterway. The sea route of the equipment from Novorossiysk on the cargo ship, Anna, to the Bangladesh seaport of Mongla – through the Black Sea and the Suez Canal – was about 14,000 kilometres.
Manufacture of the VVER-1200 reactor vessel took more than two years and all operations were carried out with the direct participation of representatives of the authorised organisation, the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA). In October last year, the RPV and steam generators for Rooppur 1 were delivered to Bangladesh. It is planned to install the RPV in September. Rooppur NPP is being built by Rosatom with two VVER-1200 reactors. Rooppur 1 is currently scheduled to start operating 2023, followed by Rooppur 2 a year later.
Meanwhile, a high-ranking delegation from Bangladesh on 11 August visited Rosatom’s Mashinostroitelny Zavod (MSZ – Machine-Building Plant), in Elektrostal, Moscow Region, part of Rosatom’s Fuel Company TVEL. The delegation included Minister of Science and Technology Yafesh Osman, BAEC Chairman Sanovar Hussein, and the head BAERA, Muzammel Haq. TVEL will supply nuclear fuel for both VVER-1200 power units a Rooppur NPP until the end of their service life.
