Specialists at Russia’s Atommash (part of Rosatom’s Engineering Division) have begun manufacturing the reactor vessel for unit 2 of the El Dabaa NPP under construction in Egypt. Blanks for this project were cast at the metallurgical plant of Rosatom’s Mechanical Engineering Division in St Petersburg and delivered to the Atommash production complex in Volgodonsk, where they will be assembled into the reactor vessel. The blanks have passed the incoming inspection and are in the initial operations of the production cycle. The shells of the reactor vessel nozzle zone and the flange undergo mechanical processing for subsequent anti-corrosion surfacing.
In parallel, the plant continues to manufacture reactor equipment for El-Dabaa unit 1. Soon, Atommash specialists will begin assembling and welding the nozzles of the steam generator housing and the subsequent enlargement of the workpieces into semi-shells.
At the Petrozavodskmash machine-building plant in Karelia the manufacture of casings of the main circulation pump units, which ensure the circulation of coolant in the primary circuit of the reactor, is underway. In addition to pump casings for El Dabaa, clad pipes, main circulation pipeline components and a pressure compensator will be manufactured at the site.
In total, the production sites of the Mechanical Engineering Division will manufacture and supply about 12,500 tonnes of equipment to the construction site of Egypt’s first NPP. These are nuclear reactors with internal devices and an upper block, sets of steam generators, main circulation pump housings, main circulation pumps, equipment for active and passive nuclear reactor protection systems and pressure compensators.
El Dabaa NPP will comprise four units with generation III+ VVER-1200 pressurised water reactors. The NPP is being constructed in accordance with contracts that entered into force in 2017. The $30bn project is mainly financed through a $25bn Russian loan. Rosatom will supply nuclear fuel throughout the lifecycle of the plant, arrange for the training of the Egyptian personnel, and assist in the operation and maintenance of the plant for the first 10 years. The reference plant for El Dabaa is the Leningrad-II NPP. Construction of all four units is planned for completion by 2028-2029 and Egypt expects that the NPP will reach full capacity by 2030. Work is underway on all four units.
Researched and written by Judith Perera
