At Volgodonsk branch of AEM-technology JSC the manufacturing of a reactor pressure vessel for the Belarusian NPP Unit 2 has been finished

At Volgodonsk branch of AEM-technology JSC (member of the Rosatom machine-building division - Atomenergomash) the manufacturing of a reactor pressure vessel for the Belarusian NPP Unit 2 has been finished.

Currently preparations for the welding of the last circular weld connecting the upper and lower RPV halves are underway. That is one of the key operations involved in this manufacturing process. The circular seam will be welded continuously for as long as 10 days with as continuously heating the region of the joint. The heating temperature will exceed 200 degrees Celsius. After the welding the RPV will be placed in a heat treatment furnace for treatment.

Reactor Internals are being manufactured in parallel. "Our engineers have by now performed an optimization of the manufacturing process to get the Internals ready for the check assembly with the RPV. It is planned that the barrel, the protective tube unit and the baffle will be finished within a month to come," director for production Vitaly Shishov is quoted as saying.

The reactor is a vertical cylinder-shaped vessel with an elliptical bottom in which a core and internals are placed. On the top it is closed with a closure head in which drives of reactor control and protection elements and gear are installed, as well as nozzles for cables of reactor control pickups. The closure head is fixed to the vessel with studs. In its upper portion the vessel has coolant inlets and outlets, and also nozzles for emergency delivery of coolant in case of depressurization.

The Belarusian NPP is an AES-2006 type NPP project under construction 18 km off the town of Ostrovets (Grodno oblast, the Republic of Belarus). The reactor design for the project has been developed by Consolidated Design Bureau Gidropress JSC, also a member of Atomenergomash, which is conducting field supervision and design support of the project. The first NPP unit is planned to become operational in 2018, and the second in 2020.