Construction works at Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant are continuing. Workers installed a turbine and carried out hydraulic pressure tests at Unit 1, bringing it closer to achieving the first criticality. A 50-tonne crane for Unit 2 is ready to be shipped to the construction site.
The turbine installed at the turbine island of Rooppur Unit 1, which is being constructed by Rosatom’s Engineering Division in Bangladesh, was connected to a barring gear unit. It will be used to rotate the turbine shaft at low speeds during the pre-commissioning tests. Technicians performed control checks to confirm the alignment accuracy and high quality of the turbine build.
“We have finished the installation of the turbine at Rooppur Unit 1, which is an important step towards the first criticality of the reactor. Connecting the turbine to the barring gear and passing technical checks confirm the build accuracy and equipment reliability. This result is a team effort of qualified professionals and yet another proof that Russian technologies are highly reliable,” said Alexey Deriy, Vice President for Bangladesh Projects at AtomStroyExport.
Meanwhile, hydraulic pressure tests on the primary coolant systems and equipment were successfully completed at Unit 1. The testing process consisted of several stages, including preliminary preparations, filling the primary coolant circuit with water, building the required pressure and temperature, and testing the main and auxiliary systems.
An automated control system was put into operation during the hydraulic pressure tests. Tightness and strength tests were carried out at the pressure of 24.5 MPa. Engineers thoroughly monitored the condition of the equipment, assessing its performance against the design requirements and international safety standards.
“The successful completion of hydraulic pressure tests at Rooppur Unit 1 confirms the robustness and safety of the plant design. We have passed a major milestone to come closer to the next important stage, which is hot functional tests on the reactor systems. We are confident that the plant will become a reliable source of energy in Bangladesh for decades to come,” Alexey Deriy said.
A 50-tonne overhead crane for Rooppur Unit 2 was manufactured in Russia and will soon be shipped to the construction site.
Earlier, two other electric overhead cranes with lifting capacities of 16 and 32 tonnes were delivered to the port of Novorossiysk (Russia). They were also manufactured in Russia and are designed to perform loading and unloading operations.
“The three cranes we have produced are our important contribution to the Rooppur NPP construction project because achieving the first criticality at Unit 1 will only be the beginning of Bangladesh’s great nuclear story. It was announced last April that the country was interested in building two more power reactors. This makes the equipment we supply an important component of the long-term nuclear development strategy for the region,” Vladimir Popov, Deputy CEO for Business Development at AtomEnergoRemont, commented on the event.
Photo by: Engineering Division of Rosatom State Corporation
