Unit 1 at Russia’s Smolensk NPP, a RMBK-1000 reactor, has resumed operation 16.4 days ahead of schedule after upgrades and repairs. The outage was reduced from a planned 125 days to 108.6 days. During the outage major work was carried out for the first time to remediate the graphite masonry of the reactor.
The purpose of the work on the graphite masonry was to correct its geometry that had changed over time and return the graphite columns to the design state. This technology was used for the first time at the Leningrad NPP, then at the Kursk NPP, both of which also have RBMK reactors.
Almost 500 people were involved in the work to cut the graphite and remove the resulting graphite dust using special equipment, mechanisms and devices, including robotics. Repairs and upgrades were also made to the voltage regulation device of the transformer, oil coolers and drainage.
Image courtesy of Rosatom
