SOSNOVY BOR, 8 December (BelTA) – The Central Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau (part of Atomenergomash, which is the mechanical engineering division of the Russian state corporation Rosatom), sent a set of vital equipment on the way to the Belarusian nuclear power plant on 8 December, BelTA has learned.
The last of the five main circulating pumps intended for the first power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant left the manufacturing site in Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad Oblast for the railway station in Ostrovets.
Main circulating pumps represent an integral part of reactor units in nuclear power plants. The pumps keep the heat transfer agent flowing in the primary circuit of the nuclear reactor and have to operate in high pressure and high temperature conditions. The safety of any nuclear power plant directly depends on the reliable and uninterrupted operation of the pumps.
The batch of equipment will have to travel for 1,300km within 4-5 days to reach Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast.
The main circulating pumps were tested at the manufacturing site in the city of Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad Oblast, Russia. The test bed created the same conditions the pumps will have to endure as part of an operating power-generating unit. A main circulating pump is designed to work for 60 years.
The Central Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau is Russia's only developer and manufacturer of main circulating pumps for all types of Russian reactors. The company also designs and makes remote-controlled transport and technology equipment for handling radioactive materials. The equipment is used to service nuclear reactors (for reloading fuel), in spent nuclear fuel storage facilities (for transporting, disassembling fuel rod arrays in “hot caves”, packing them into containers).
The Belarusian nuclear power plant is a project to build a VVER-1200 type nuclear power plant 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The BelNPP will have two power-generating units with the total output capacity of up to 2,400MW (2x1,200MW).
