The construction of any large facility, all the more so a nuclear station, is the daily work of thousands of professionals, and each of them makes an important contribution to the common goal. This article will tell you about the August developments at the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, one of the biggest construction sites in Bangladesh.
A gantry crane was installed at Unit 1. As explained by Alexey Deriy, ASE Vice President and Director of the Rooppur construction project, the crane is used to reload super-heavy equipment and handle fresh and spent nuclear fuel during the plant operation. When assembled, the crane weighs 225 tons and has a lifting capacity of 360 tons. It was manufactured in Russia and delivered knocked-down to the Rooppur construction site.
In August, eight heat exchangers of the passive heat removal system (PHRS) were installed at the construction site of Unit 1. PHRS is a passive safety system that will remove heat from the reactor core and release it into the atmosphere in case of power supply failure. “When the system is operating, atmospheric air enters the PHRS heat exchanger and cools it on one side, condensing steam from the steam generator inside the heat exchange tubes,” Alexey Deriy explains. Each heat exchanger is a steel structure weighing over 32 tons.
Work is also underway at other facilities of the under-construction nuclear power plant. In late August, the installation of a ventilation pipe was completed in the controlled-access workshop building. This 20-meter long pipe weighs almost 15 tons.
Two out of six diesel generators were installed at the backup diesel power plant. Weighing 205 tons and 170 tons respectively, the generators have a power capacity of 10.5 MW and 6.3 MW. The backup diesel generators belong to the safety system of the nuclear plant. They are designed to supply power needed to shut down and cool the reactor in case of emergency. Each reactor is equipped with three backup diesel generators.
The installation of equipment was also completed at the chemical desalination unit of the Rooppur NPP, which took five months. The unit produces chemically desalinated water used for process needs during the operation of the nuclear plant.
On September 1, a children’s gathering dedicated to the Day of Knowledge was held in the Children’s Sector of Green City to celebrate the beginning of the new school year. A surprise for the children was the opportunity to meet their peers from Egypt and Hungary via teleconference. This year, 56 more children went to the Children’s Sector school.
