Rostov NPP Unit 3 began commercial operation earlier this year, but the construction at Rostov NPP did not stop as Unit 4 is scheduled for commissioning in 2017. Another milestone to be reached in the near term is the installation of Unit 4 reactor vessel. To meet the deadline, which is the end of November, a polar crane has been tested on the site since late October. The crane will be used to handle all heavyweight components in the reactor building, including the reactor vessel and steam generators. The vessel is expected to be delivered in the second half of November.
Other end-of-year goals are the turbine foundation, auxiliary power supply and preparations to weld the main circulation circuit (MCC). Sixteen MCC units have been delivered to the site, and four of them have already passed incoming quality control.
Meanwhile, installation of the reactor pit internals is about to be completed. Over 1,000 tons of steel structures (out of 3,700 tons designed) have been mounted in the turbine island. Just recently, engineers went ahead with the installation of a process control system at Unit 4. They are currently installing and debugging upper-level system blocks and low-voltage control systems supplied by VNIIAES (Russian Research Institute for NPP Operations).
Process control system components were delivered to the construction site in late September. Installation of the nuclear station’s ‘artificial brain’ is planned to be completed in 2017.
Special attention is paid to timely deliveries of equipment components and pipelines, said Andrei Petrov, CEO of Rosenergoatom (an operator of Russian NPPs) at a meeting of the Rostov NPP Unit 4 project team.
“It goes without saying that we have to prepare the site for the vessel installation by 19 November. No less important is that we have to prepare the reactor piping for leak detection by September 2016. We are approaching the commissioning phase so special attention should be paid to equipment deliveries,” Andrei Petrov stressed.
From construction to testing
General construction works are almost over at Leningrad NPP-2 Unit 1 as 75% of the reactor building is completed, with major equipment and systems already in place. Alexander Barinov, Deputy CEO for Capital Projects at Rosenergoatom, called on the general contractor at the project team meeting for the mobilization of all human and financial resources to implement the 2015 Capex Program in full.
Priority project
Preparations are underway at Rosenergoatom’s priority project – Kursk NPP-2, which is to replace the existing nuclear station in Kursk. Rosenergoatom CEO Andrei Petrov said, “This is an absolutely new project based on the VVER-TOI reactor. The cutting-edge unit will serve as a reference project for other reactors both in and outside of Russia. This is why Kursk NPP-2 is a priority for Rosenergoatom and its parent company Rosatom. We are now preparing for the construction to go full tilt in 2016.”
Fifteen billion rubles will be received as project finance in 2016. Capital costs will make 8.8 billion rubles out of this amount, with almost 5 billion rubles to be invested in the construction and installation. The remaining money will be used to order long lead-time equipment.
The key task for 2016 is to obtain a license and Rosatom’s permit to kick off the construction at Kursk NPP-2 Unit 1 and Unit 2. From then on, work can go into full swing on the site, stressed Andrei Petrov.
Capital investments in Kursk NPP-2 will exceed 2.8 billion rubles by the year end, with over 2.2 billion rubles to be spent on the construction and installation. This is respectively 31% and 45.5% more than in 2014. As of today, capital investments have already exceeded capital expenditures in 2014.
