Rosatom’s Engineering Division has completed concreating of the outer comtainment (NZO - Naruzhnoi Zatsitnoi Obolochki) at unit 2 of the Rooppur NPP under construction in Bangladesh. Concrete reinforcement began immediately after installation of metal structures of the NZO dome. The whole process took 122 days -five days less than planned – by combining the fill of the last two tiers.
The work involved 75 specialists, 60 of which were local staff. Laying concrete on the last tier required the use of 12 auto concrete mixers, two concrete distribution systems and 130 cubic metres of concrete. To fill the entire domed 1,233 cubic metres of concrete was used. The diameter of the NZO dome at the base for internal cladding is more than 46 metres and the shell thickness 500mm.
The outer containment shell is a reinforced concrete structure that protects from external threats such as an earthquake, tsunami, hurricane or crashing aircraft. The inner containment (VZO – Vnutrennei Zatsitnoi Obolochki) around the reactor building was installed in June 2022 and concreted in May 2023.
Alexey Deriy, Rosatom Deputy Director in charge of the Rooppur construction project noted that completion of the concreting paved the way for installation of the deflector for the passive heat removal system. “It is now necessary to prepare the embedded parts for installation, revise the sling equipment and collect the necessary documentation for lifting the deflector of the passive heat removal system using a crane," he explained.
The Rooppur plant is being built by Rosatom on the eastern bank of the Ganges River in Bangladesh’s Pabna district, about 160 km northwest of Dhaka. It will comprise two VVER-1200 reactors. In November 2011, Russia and Bangladesh signed an inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in the construction of the NPP and in mid-December 2015, a general contract was signed. Construction began in 2021. Construction of the unit 1 began in November 2017 and unit 2 in July 2018. Concreting of the unit 1 NZO was completed in March 2023. The plant’s design life is 60 years with the possibility of extending its operating life for another 20 years. Fresh fuel for the units was delivered to the site in the latter part of 2023.
Image courtesy of Rosatom
