Rosatom’s Fuel Company TVEL said on 28 June that a second line of new generation gas centrifuges (GCs) had been launched at the uranium enrichment shop of the Electrochemical Plant (ECP) in Zelenogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory. The commissioning of new equipment took place within the framework of the programme for the modernization of production facilities in the Fuel Division with a phased replacement of previous generation GCs.
In total, in 2021, it is planned to re-equip five phases of the GC facility with new equipment. Sections of the main technological equipment with the latest generation GCs are being commissioned at the ECP as part of the technical re-equipment of the enterprise which began in spring 2019. In 2020, three lines of the latest generation of gas centrifuges were introduced.
During the entire complex of dismantling, installation and commissioning works, neighbouring gas centrifuge equipment continues to operate. The enterprise does not stop implementation of the production programme. This is possible because of the unit repair technology that was developed and successfully implemented by the specialists of the enterprise during the second modernisation of the GC equipment. The widespread application of the principles and tools of the Rosatom production system at almost all stages - from dismantling to start-up - made this technology even more efficient, TVEL said.
High quality and efficient work is enabled by the clear and coordinated interaction of all plant divisions and contractor organisations, and the regular supply of equipment and materials, TVEL added. The new centrifuges are supplied to ECP by TVEL’s machine-building enterprises – the Kovrov Mechanical Plant (Kovrov, Vladimir Region) and NPO Tsentrotech (Novouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region). ECP produces low-enriched uranium for NPP fuel assemblies, stable and radioactive isotopes of various chemical elements and a number of other high-tech products.
