NDExpo is the primary venue for promotion of Rosatom’s non-nuclear products on the national and international markets. Combining an exhibition, a conference and B2B meetings, this industry event is usually attended by large Russian and international hi-tech producers, leading manufacturers of offshore equipment and power machinery, fleet industry businesses, Rosatom Group engineering companies, authorities and media.
Much interest was aroused by the Clean Water roundtable discussion dedicated to Rosatom’s water treatment products and solutions for nuclear power stations.
Reports on the development and application of water treatment and desalination technologies were made by representatives of Rusatom Energy International, ASE Engineering Group, Leypunsky Institute for Physics and Power Engineering, Russian Research and Development Institute of Nuclear Power Engineering, Sverdlovsk Research Institute of Chemical Engineering, RosEnergoAtom and RM Nanotech.
Dmitri Repin, a project manager at Rusatom Energy International, spoke in his report about the work that had been done to bring an NPP-integrated large capacity desalination facility based on the hybrid MED-RO (Multiple Effect Distillation and Reverse Osmosis) technology to the international market. He told the audience about a sweeping integration effort involving other Rosatom Group companies and third-party research organizations to develop a conceptual technology solution for the desalination of 170,000 cu m of sea water per reactor unit. Dmitri also stressed the importance of cooperation with international desalination experts and focused on the industry competencies and potential.
“Sea water desalination for nuclear station process needs is a very promising business. Environmentally friendly water treatment technologies will add value to Rosatom’s core product, nuclear power stations based on VVER-1000 and VVER-1200 reactors. Rosatom has professional expertise and a wide range of competencies required to develop efficient water treatment systems for nuclear power stations, power generating facilities, public purposes, industry and agriculture,” said Ilya Lychev, Rusatom Energy International Vice President and Director for Floating Power Stations and Desalination.
This was far from the only non-nuclear technology presented by Rosatom Group companies at NDExpo 2016. TVEL, a fuel fabrication division of Rosatom, presented hi-tech solutions for steelmakers and the medical industry.
Its subsidiary, Chepetsk Mechanical Plant (CMP), presented calcium wire for ladle treatment of steel. The new product stands apart in terms of processing depth from conventional calcium items manufactured by CMP for more than 50 years. CMP is the only European producer of high-quality electrolytic calcium to have withstood global competition.
Rosatom’s another subsidiary, Urals Electrochemical Plant (UEP), demonstrated filters, filtering elements and heat hyperconductor of different forms and sizes. Filters produced by UEP are widely used in the nuclear, electronic, pharmaceutical and food industries by a host of domestic manufacturers. Heat hyperconductors increase the quantity of heat removed from electronic devices and maintain a temperature balance in electronic systems. They can be used in any industry where it is required to quickly irradiate heat or level thermal imbalances (radio electronics, spacecraft, etc.).
The Electrochemical Plant (ECP) unveiled its in-house technology for the production of isotopes (ECP holds 30% of the global stable isotope market) and fluorine-containing products. ECP is the first Russian company to process depleted uranium hexafluoride left over after the uranium enrichment at the plant.
Bochvar Russian Research Institute of Inorganic Materials (VNIINM) presented a project for the domestic production of large joint prostheses. The institute has technologies and competencies required to process titanium and other medical metals and apply hi-tech porous coatings. VNIINM possesses technologies of ionized metal (titanium, zirconium, tantalum, silver, tungsten, etc.) plasma sputtering, high power magnetron sputtering, cold gas dynamic spraying and other chemical and thermal treatment techniques. Some of these technologies have no foreign counterparts and make prosthetic implants unparalleled in terms of their consumer properties.
Rosatom’s Innovation Management Division demonstrated its technologies and solutions for sustainable development and environmental safety, among them a mobile remote laser cutting unit, which is used in emergencies at oil and gas production facilities, and the Kondor scanner for road surface density measurements.
A multi-purpose 40 MW nuclear icebreaker was presented at NDExpo 2016 by Aisberg Design Bureau. The icebreaker project is commissioned by Rosatom to be used at offshore deposits in the Arctic. “The new Project 10570 icebreaker is designed as a multi-purpose vessel that can be easily modified to perform a particular task,” says Aisberg CEO and Chief Designer Alexander Ryzhkov.
The icebreaker will be powered by the RITM-200B reactor with an estimated service life of 40 years. Capable of working for 26,000 hours without interruptions, the vessel will have an icebreaking capacity of up to 2.4 meters, a 7-year refueling interval and unlimited endurance at sea. Aisberg Design Bureau offers several versions of the vessel, among them a shallow icebreaker, a support vessel capable of towing and anchor handling, an inspection and maintenance icebreaker for underwater production facilities, a well stimulation vessel and a seismic survey vessel.
