Two horizontal steam-heater separators (a component of the steam generators) are being delivered from Russia for unit 1 of the Akkuyu NPP under construction in Turkiye. The initial part of the journey involved transportation along the frozen Neva River, accompanied by three icebreakers and two tugboats.
Rosatom said this involved a complex logistics operation. The route ran past the key historical sites. These included Smolny, the Hermitage Museum, and the Peter and Paul Fortress. The caravan of vessels passed under a number of bridges – Volodarsky, Alexander Nevsky, Bolshoikhtinsky, Foundry, Trinity, Palace and Annunciation bridges. They were accompanied by special response services along the entire route.
“Winter transportation is a very complex logistics project, and we are faced with a large number of issues that we had to solve for the first time,” said Pavel Kosterin, director of production at the Izhora plant (part of Rosatom’s mechanical engineering division). “Many services were activated so that the path from the pier to the Grand Port of St Petersburg was easy and safe. We are grateful to the Government of St Petersburg and all the departments that assisted us in resolving these complex issues.”
From the seaport of St Petersburg, the equipment will be delivered by sea to the construction site in Turkey. Rosatom said the first winter shipment of such equipment was a clear confirmation of its policy to unconditionally fulfil all international obligations and find the most effective solutions to ensure uninterrupted work on the construction of NPPs in Russia and abroad.
The total weight of the equipment is 640 tonnes – each unit measuring 22.3 metres in length with an outer diameter of 4.5 metres. The steam heaters for Akkuyu 1 are the first to manufactured in a horizontal design. This modification allows for optimal operation in combination with modern low speed turbines and uses two such devices, instead of four in the usual layout. Russian engineers almost halved the metal consumption of steam heaters with a general increase in their efficiency, reliability and cost-effectiveness.
Akkuyu will eventually host four Russian-designed VVER-1200 reactors. The pouring of first concrete for unit 1 took place in April 2018, for unit 2 in June 2020, for unit 3 in March 2021, and for unit 4 in July 2022. Completion of unit 1 is expected in the third quarter of 2023. Rosatom is constructing the reactors according to a build-own-operate model.
Image courtesy of Rosatom
