MINSK, 10 April (BelTA) – The Russian company AEM Technologies (part of Atomenergomash, which is the mechanical engineering division of the Russian state corporation Rosatom) has finished making a set of PGV-1000 steam generators for the second power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, BelTA learned from the Atomenergomash website.
The set of heat exchange equipment comprises four assembled steam generators. It was made by the Volgodonsk-based enterprise Atommash of AEM Technologies Company. As part of the manufacturing process bottoms were stamped, the body frames were assembled and welded, heat-exchange pipes were inserted, and quality control measures were carried out. Every steam generator now contains 11,000 stainless pipes with the total length of about 125km. The steam generators have also been subjected to hydraulic and vacuum testing, ultrasound control, magnet powder control, eddy current control, and gamma-ray inspection. The company's quality control specialists performed a total of 315 control operations for each steam generator.
The set of steam generators for the second power-generating unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant has been accepted by the commission of representatives of the Belarusian side and is being prepared for shipment, which will begin once waterway navigation is available.
A steam generator is a first-class safety product. A steam generator is over 4 meters in diameter and about 15 meters in length. This piece of equipment weighs 340 tonnes. The body is a horizontal cylinder with two elliptical ends. In the middle one can find manifolds to pump and drain hot heat transfer agent. The upper part is occupied by steam while the lower part is used for heat exchange. One power-generating unit of a nuclear power plant requires four steam generators.
The Belarusian nuclear power plant is built using the AES-2006 nuclear power plant design that features VVER-1200 type reactors. The construction site is located 18km away from Ostrovets, Grodno Oblast. The reactor unit was designed by the Russian R&D company OKB Gidropress, which is part of Atomenergomash.
