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NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, March-April 2014
New Energy
Barakah 3 & 4
The
Emirates Nuclear Energy
Corporation
(ENEC) has been granted
approval for additional civil works
relating to Barakah Units 3 and 4,
United Arab Emirates under its Limited
Construction License. This approval will
help to ensure that the Units remain on
schedule to enter commercial operations
in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
ENEC received the approval from
the UAE Federal Authority for Nuclear
Regulation (FANR) for civil works in
preparation for pouring safety concrete
on the Reactor Containment Building,
Auxiliary Building, Turbine Generator
Building, Component Cooling Water
Heat Exchanger Building, Essential
Service Water Intake Structure, and
Compound Building. This will allow
installation of structural features such as
formwork, rebar, embedded anchor bolts,
electrical conduit, steel plates and piping.
ENEC is not authorized to pour initial
safety concrete for Units 3 and 4 until it
is granted a Construction License from
FANR. ENEC submitted its Construction
License Application for Barakah Units 3
and 4 to FANR on March, 1st, 2013 and
the application is currently under review.
ENEC also submitted an Environmental
Impact Assessment, which requires
approval from The Environment Agency
– Abu Dhabi.
ENEC is working to deliver a
world-class peaceful nuclear energy
program to the UAE. By 2020, four
nuclear energy plants will be generating
up to a quarter of the nation’s electricity
supply. The first two plants are now
more than 35% completed, and are being
constructed safely, on time and within
budget. Unit 1 is scheduled to enter
commercial operations in 2017, and Unit
2 is scheduled for operations in 2018,
pending regulatory approvals. ENEC will
apply for an Operating License for Units
1 and 2 in 2015.
Contact: email:
Olkiluoto 3
The containment pressure and
leak-tightness tests, which took about
two weeks, have been completed at the
Olkiluoto 3, Finland. – The tests went
well. We are pleased with the results,
concludes OL3 Team Manager Mika
Hassinen.
High quality requirements apply to
the strength of the containment in order
to ensure that radioactivity will remain
inside the containment in the possible,
but highly unlikely case of an accident.
Pressure and leak-tightness tests therefore
play a significant role in ensuring nuclear
safety. The purpose of the tests that have
now been carried out was to demonstrate
that the inner containment, which protects
the reactor primary circuit, is leak-tight
and pressure-resistant.
The test comprised a total of six
measurement phases at different pressure
levels. The maximum pressure was 6
bar (abs). The sequenced measurement
procedure verified that the structural
behaviour of the containment is
consistent with the design, also at the 4.9
bar (abs) pressure, which simulates a loss
of coolant accident. – We used almost
90 sensors to measure the results of the
leak-tightness test; the sensors measured
containment temperature, pressure and
humidity, explains Mr Hassinen.
According to Mr Hassinen, it can be
concluded on the basis of the preliminary
measurement results that the containment
fulfils the leak-tightness and pressure-
resistance requirements specified for
it. – We continue the analysis of the
measurements results and the final test
results will be available in the near future.
Guillaume Douet, who is the
Commissioning Engineer responsible for
the pressure and leak-tightness test for
the plant supplier, AREVA, considers the
tests that have now been completed to be
important to the overall progress of the
OL3 project. - This was the first pressure
and leak-tightness test conducted on an
EPR
TM
unit, and the first pre-operational
test of a reactor containment conducted
since 2001 in Europe. We are extremely
pleased with the good results of the test,
cooperation with
Teollisuuden Voima
Oyj
(TVO) and Radiation and Nuclear
Safety Authority (STUK), (Finland's
nuclear regulatory agency) and that this
first Containment Tightness Test of an
EPR
TM
happens on OL3, explains Mr
Douet.
Large compressors were used to
pressurize the containment. The longest
continuous period of pressurization was
ca. 30 hours.
The test sequence was supervised by
inspectors of the Radiation and Nuclear
Safety Authority. Close coordination and
cooperation was required between the
plant supplier, TVO and the authority
preparing and executing the tests.
The leak-tightness test is to be
repeated at the plant unit three times in
every 15-year period.
Contact:
Kathe
Sarparanta,
telephone: 358 2 8381 4210.
Poland
Westinghouse Electric Company
welcomed the decision by the Polish
government to adopt its new program
for nuclear power, which will pave the
way for the construction of the country’s
first nuclear power plant. This new
program corresponds with the aims of
the European Commission’s proposed
energy and climate objectives to be met
by 2030. With Poland’s need to reduce its
carbon footprint, nuclear energy and the
AP1000
®
reactor are the right solutions
for providing reliable baseload electricity
that is sensitive to the needs of the
environment.
Safety is the cornerstone of any
nuclear project. The AP1000 plant is the
only reactor design with fully passive
safety systems intended to eliminate risks
to safety in case of loss of all power, such
as at Fukushima. Westinghouse expects
