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NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, July-August 2013
New Energy
Kudankulam
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board
(AERB), India, has granted Clearance
for ‘First Approach to Criticality’ (FAC)
of Unit-l of Kudankulam Nuclear Power
Project (KK-NPP) as the next major
stage of its Commissioning. In general
terms, FAC is the commencement of
the controlled nuclear fission process
for the first time, and is a step towards
the subsequent beginning of power
production in a nuclear reactor.
Unit-l is the first of two units of
VVER (Russian) reactors located at
Kudankulam, Tamilnadu with installed
electric generating capacity of 1000
MWe each. It is the first commercial
Pressurized Water Reactor(PWR) based
nuclear power plant in the country.
AERB had earlier granted the final
permission for ‘Initial Fuel Loading’
(IFL) in Unit-l of KK-NPP in September,
2012. Subsequent to this, further review
was carried out by the Specialist Groups
and the Advisory Committee for Project
Safety Review of AERB. The Clearance
given for FAC is the culmination
of in-depth review of all associated
safety aspects, commissioning results,
corrective measures of the identified non-
conformances and submissions regarding
fulfillment of various regulatory
requirements.
Contact: telephone: (0) 2557
6255, fax: (022) 2557 6255, email:
.
IAEA Ministerial
Conference
Nuclear power remains an important
option for many countries to improve
energy security, provide energy for
development and fight climate change,
the International Ministerial Conference
on Nuclear Power in the 21st Century
concluded.
Participants also emphasized the
importance of nuclear safety in the future
growth of nuclear power, noting that
nuclear safety has been strengthened
worldwide following the March 2011
accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Station.
The Conference was organized
by the
International Atomic Energy
Agency
(IAEA) in cooperation with the
Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the
Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD), and hosted
by the Government of the Russian
Federation through the State Atomic
Energy Corporation ROSATOM.
The concluding statement said
nuclear power, as a stable base-load
source of electricity complements other
energy sources including renewables, and
many states look to it to reduce the impact
of volatile fossil fuel prices and mitigate
climate change.
Contact: telephone: (43-1) 2600-
21273, email:
.
Darlington
Ontario Power Generation
, (OPG),
Canada, received detailed construction
plans, schedules and cost estimates for two
potential nuclear reactors at Darlington.
The submissions by Westinghouse
Electric Canada, Inc. and SNC-Lavalin
Nuclear Inc. / Candu Energy Inc. were
commissioned last year and will help
inform the government’s decision on
whether to move forward with new
nuclear at OPG’s Darlington site.
The two reactor designs that were
studied were:
• The Enhanced Candu 6 reactor
designed by Candu Energy Inc., a
unit of SNC-Lavalin;
• The AP 1000 reactor designed by
Westinghouse.
The completed submissions will
be analyzed by a team from OPG and
the ministries of Energy, Finance, and
Infrastructure Ontario. This review will
take several months to complete.
Contact: telephone: (416)592-4008
or (877) 592-4008.
Rostov
The reactor pressure vessel for unit
3 of Russia’s Rostov nuclear power plant
is in the process of installation. The
component has been put in place ready
for circulation pipes to be connected.
The 320-tonne vessel was delivered
to the construction site in late May, 2013
and has now been moved into the reactor
building, lifted by polar crane and placed
on the support ring in the reactor com-
partment. The next stage in the operation
will be to align the main connectors of the
reactor pressure vessel. The main circula-
tion pipes will then be welded in place.
The installation operation is expected to
take about 60 days to complete.
Four 1000 MWe VVER pressurized
water reactors have been planned at
the Rostov site (formerly known as
Volgodonsk) since the early 1980s.
Construction of units 1 and 2 began
promptly, but progress faltered. Units
1 and 2 eventually entered commercial
operation in March 2001 and October
2010, respectively.
Contact: Sergey Novikov,
Rosatom
,
telephone: 7 499 949-44-12, fax: 7 499
949-27-22, email:
.
Olkiluoto 3
Preparations for commissioning
are in progress in parallel with ongoing
installation works in both the reactor
island and the turbine island of Olkiluoto
3 (OL3). At present manpower is about
2,400 on the worksite.
Construction work has been
completed in the main parts in the
reactor island. Piping is being installed
and construction inspections carried out
on component installations. Electrical
installation work is under way eg. on
fuel transfer and handling equipment.
Construction work related to site lighting
engineering and emergency power
supplies is in progress.
Most of construction work and
component installations have been
finished in the turbine island. The pre-
service tests of electrical and process
systems continue. Pressure tests have been
carried out in the secondary circuit and
commissioning tests of process systems
and electrical tests are progressing. The
emergency diesel generator in the turbine
island has also been tested.
Occupational safety has remained on
a good level on the OL3 worksite. The
accident rate continues to be favourable
at less than ten accidents per a million
working hours.
Contact:PasiTuohimaa,
Teollisuuden
Voima Oyj,
telephone: 358 2 8381 5216,
email:
