Control assembly of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) has begun for unit 4 of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant under construction in Türkiye at Russia’s Atommash plant in Volgodonsk (part of Rosatom’s Mechanical Engineering Division). This is the 250th reactor to be assembled in Russia and coincides with the 80th anniversary of the Russian nuclear industry.
Control assembly is the final stage of the three-year reactor plant fabrication cycle. First, the reactor vessel is installed vertically in a special stand. Then a 12 metre internal shaft is lowered into the body. The shaft is where nuclear fuel, a partition and a block of protective pipes will be loaded at the station. Control assembly is a practice run (apart from the fuel). The total weight of the reactor assembly will be about 600 tonnes. When everything is loaded, specialists will use a laser to take metrological measurements to ensure that all equipment is located correctly.
“Control assembly allows engineers to make sure that all components and elements of the reactor are located exactly down to one thousandth of a millimetre,” said Atommash Director Maxim Zhidkov. “This work confirms the readiness of the reactor to operate for a minimum period of 60 years and simplifies its installation at the nuclear power plant construction site. Successful control assembly serves as a global quality marker: it confirms that domestic design and production standards are the best in the world and form a reliable basis for long-term energy security.”
“Our products have resulted in hundreds of nuclear power units in Russia and abroad, which provide heat and light to millions of people on the planet, as well as to nuclear icebreakers, opening up new horizons for the development of the Russian North,” said Igor Kotov, head of Rosatom’s Mechanical Engineering Division. “There are more large-scale projects ahead – to launch the world’s first Generation IV energy complex in Seversk, on which several of our enterprises are working simultaneously, and to create a line of floating nuclear power plants for the Russian energy fleet.”
Atommash specialises in the manufacture of nuclear reactors and steam generators for large NPPs and is involved in all NPP construction projects with VVER-type reactors in Russia and abroad. Currently, fabrication is underway of two VVER-1200 reactors for El Dabaa NPP unit 2 (Egypt) and Akkuyu unit 4 as well as 17 steam generators for NPPs in Russia, Türkiye, Egypt and India.
Akkuyu NPP will eventually host four Russian-designed VVER-1200 reactors. The pouring of first concrete for unit 1 took place in April 2018, for unit 2 in June 2020, for unit 3 in March 2021, and for unit 4 in July 2022. Rosatom is constructing the reactors according to a build-own-operate model. Unit 1 is expected to begin operation in 2025-26.
