The Volgodonsk branch of Russia’s AEM-Technologies (part of the engineering division of Rosatom, Atomenergomash) has manufactured and shipped the internals of the nuclear reactor for unit 1 of the Rooppur NPP under construction in Bangladesh.
From Volgodonsk site, the equipment was sent by road to the port in Novorossiysk, from where it will be transported 14,000 km by river and sea to the nuclear plant site in Bangladesh.
The internals include an 11-metre internal shaft, a baffle and a block of protective pipes. The total weight of the internals is over 210 tonnes.
The reactor is a vertical cylindrical body with an elliptical bottom, inside which the core and internals are located. The top of the reactor is hermetically sealed by a lid fitted with drives of mechanisms and controls and protection of reactors installed on it and nozzles for outputting cables for in-reactor control sensors. The cover is fastened to the body with studs. In the upper part of the body there are nozzles for supplying and removal of the coolant, as well as nozzles for emergency supply of the coolant when the circuit is depressurised.
Rooppur NPP is being built by Rosatom with two VVER-1200 reactors. Rooppur 1 is currently scheduled to start operating 2023, followed by Rooppur 2 a year later. The reactor pressure vessel for the first unit was delivered to the Rooppur construction site in November.
Photo: The reactor pressure vessel internals for Rooppur 1 have been shipped to Bangladesh (Photo: AEM)
