Russian company, OMZ Special Steels has produced a 420-tonne bar of steel, which will be used to make a prototype reactor pressure vessel shell for Atomenergoproekt's next generation VVER-TOI reactor.
"This is the first time an ingot of such size will be used in production of a reactor shell," OMZ said in a statement. The previous weight record was 360 tonnes.
The reactor vessel of the VVER reactor is made up of several forged shells welded to each other. OMZ said that the production of the experimental active zone shell for the 1255 MW reactor should be completed by June 2014. It will be made from 15X2HMFA steel.
The ingot, which was cast in December 2013, was delivered to the AKK-12000 forging plant for further works, OMZ said.
In another first, the ingot was transported to the forging plant at a temperature of 500°C, using a specially developed thermos container and motorized transport machines.
The research and development work on this project was carried out in cooperation with OMZ-Izhora, Research and Production Association CNIITMASH and Central Research Institute of Structural Materials Prometey.
The giant ingot becomes the second 420 tonne ingot in Izhora's metallurgy history. The first was cast at Izhorskiye Zavody in 1988.
Photo: The 420 tonne ingot for the VVER-TOI reactor shell (Credit: OMZ Group)
