NEWS |


round up


NEW BUILD


FINLAND’S TEOLLISUUDEN VOIMA (TVO) said the EPR reactor at unit 3 of the Olkiluoto NPP (OL3) is expected to operate at full power in February after the feedwater pump impellers are replaced. The new impellers, which will be installed in all four of OL3’s feedwater pumps during a production break, will have more robust measurements.


BULGARIA’S PARLIAMENT HAS mandated the caretaker government to begin talks with the USA on a potential agreement for the construction of two additional reactors at Kozloduy NPP using US Westinghouse AP-1000 technology.


SPAIN’S TECNATOM WILL be responsible for implementation of the simulator for unit 1 of China’s San’ao NPP under construction near Cangnan county in Zhejiang province.


VIBRATIONS DETECTED DURING pre-operational testing at unit 3 of Georgia Power’s Vogtle NPP in the US are likely to further delay start-up of the unit. The vibrations, associated with some piping within the cooling, were identified by Southern Nuclear Operating Company. Vogtle units 3 & 4, in Waynesboro Georgia will be the first new nuclear units built in the US in more than 30 years.


UNIT 3 OF China’s Fangchenggang NPP in Guangxi Autonomous Region has been connected to the grid, according to China General Nuclear. The 1,180 MWe pressurised water reactor is the first of two Hualong One (HPR1000) demonstration reactors under construction at the site and is scheduled to begin commercial operation in the second half of 2023.


CONSTRUCTION OF TWO new reactors at Hungary’s Paks-II NPP is now expected to be completed in 2032, two years later than the previous target. Nevertheless, preparations for expansion of the plant are continuing.


THE DOME OF the internal containment has been installed at unit 1 of the Akkuyu NPP under construction in Turkiye. Construction and installation work at the site are ongoing at all sections of the main and auxiliary facilities. These include four power units.


PLANT OPERATION BELGIUM AND FRENCH power utility Engie have agreed to extend the life of unit 4 at the Doel NPP and unit 3 at the Tihange NPP by 10 years. The two parties signed a “non-binding letter of intent” concerning the life extension last July. The two 1.03 GWe reactors have been in service since 1985.


Uranium graphite reactors dismantled


used. In total, more than 2,500 cubic metres of concrete was required for the bottom of the reactor mine.


All work under the state contract was


Above: Dismantling and fragmentation of slabs Photo credit: Rosatom


Dismantling and fragmentation of equipment and pipelines at the industrial reactors ADE-4 and ADE-5 in Seversk has been completed. The AD series reactors, designed by OKBM, are water-cooled uranium-graphite thermal neutron reactors. Located at the Siberian Chemical Combine


(SCC), Russia’s Experimental-Demonstration Centre for Decommissioning Uranium-Graphite Nuclear Reactors (UDC UGR), part of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, undertook the role.


In 2021, Rosatom signed a contract with UDC UGR, which was tasked with dismantling and fragmentation of radiation-contaminated equipment and pipelines, as well as concreting of the ADE-5 sub-reactor space. The work was expected to take two years. In the course of the work, some 1,500


tonnes of equipment and pipelines of the first and second circuits of the ADE-4 and ADE-5 reactors were dismantled and fragmented, which, according to the results of radiation measurements, were classified as radioactive waste. The materials were packaged in containers and placed on a specially prepared temporary storage site. Some of the dismantled pipelines were decontaminated and used as scrap metal. The need to carry out work on the


dismantling and movement of large-tonnage equipment under cramped conditions when exposed to radiation exposure significantly complicated the work. Furthermore, a lot of preparatory work was carried out to concrete the sub-reactor space of the ADE-5 reactor mine including access roads for concrete trucks and concrete pump installation sites. During these preparations, 107 tons of equipment and metal structures, about eight tons of plastic and more than two tons of electric cable were dismantled. All generated waste was fragmented, packaged in containers and placed on the special site. When concreting the reactor mine, heavy concrete with a waterproofing additive was


6 | February 2023 | www.neimagazine.com


completed in full and on time for a total cost of RUB412m ($6m). The work was carried as part of the project “Decommissioning of industrial uranium-graphite reactors ADE-4 and ADE-5 using the ‘on-site burial’ option developed by the All-Russia Science Research and Design Institute of Power Engineering Technology (VNIPIET). A total of five industrial uranium-graphite


reactors had operated at SCC: I-1, EI-2, ADE-3, ADE-4, ADE-5. They were intended for the production of plutonium with ADE-4 and 5 also producing thermal and electrical energy. Decommissioning of EI-2 was formally


accepted as completed by a government commission in 2015 – the first ever for a commercial uranium-graphite reactor. SCC established UDC UGR in 2010. In co-


operation with research centres of the Russian Academy of Sciences, UDC UGR developed a unique decommissioning technology in which all reactor cavities were filled with a mix of natural clays. EI-2 was SCC’s second industrial uranium-


graphite reactor. The first (I-1) was launched in 1955 and together they formed the first dual-purpose NPP producing both weapons- grade plutonium and 100MWe. In the 1960s SCC put three more dual-purpose reactors into operation – ADE-3 (1961), ADE-4 (1964) and ADE-5 (1965) boosting power production to 600 MWe. These were designed by the NN Dollezhal Research & Development Institute of Power Engineering (Nikiet). Under a Russian-US agreement to end


production of military-grade plutonium, I-1 was closed in 1990, EI-2 in 1991 and ADE-3 in 1992. ADE 4 and ADE 5 continued operating until 2008 as they also provided power to the site. After the decommissioning of EI-2 in 2015, it was expected that the withdrawal of the remaining four shutdown reactors at SCC would take about five years but this was extended by a year. As well as the three uranium graphite


reactors built at SCC, three others were constructed at the Mining and Chemical Combine (MCC) in Zheleznogorsk (Krasnoyarsk). The first AD reactor was launched in 1958 at MCC, solely for plutonium production. All three reactors were built underground and used cooling water from the Yenisei river. In 1992, the AD and ADE-1 reactors at MCC


were shut down. MCC is currently investigating possible methods for decommissioning AD and ADE-1. Following public hearings in 2013 MCC said it favoured burying them on site. ■


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53