POWER PLANT DESIGN | RUTA
proceed to the development of a project and preparing a set of construction licensing documents. The first step towards making a set of licensing
documents is to describe a nuclear district heating plant of 2 x 50MW in accordance with the requirements of STUK regulation Y/1/2018. This regulatory provision is the major one in the hierarchy of regulatory documents and the most essential document to describe the technical parameters of a nuclear power facility.
Site selection As a location, we propose areas where combined heat and power plants (CHPP) and boiler houses with a capacity of more than 100MW are currently in use, to minimise changes to the urban development plans of municipalities. Moreover, it makes sense to take CHPPs or boilers using peat as a fuel as the primary target location. According to Finnish Energy Association statistics for
2020, there are 12 peat facilities in the cities of Joensuu (101MW), Kuopio (two units, 235MW in total), Oulu (two-unit station 170MW and 157MW, single-unit 120MW and single- unit 100MW), Pori (100 MW), Pietarsaari (100MW), Jyväskylä (140MW and 250MW) and Rovaniemi (107MW). The priority in replacing peat-firing capacities is associated with a public pressure on thermal power plants and boiler houses with atmospheric emissions. In accordance with Section 3 of the Environmental Impact
Assessment Procedure Act (252/2017), construction projects of nuclear power plants must undergo an environmental impact assessment procedure regardless of their capacity. The impact of a 2 x 50MW nuclear district heating plant
should take the following into considerations: ● The proposed project does not require constant cooling
from external sources, so unlike with traditional nuclear power plants, there is no connection with natural and artificial reservoirs.
● Radioactive emissions into the atmosphere are practically excluded due to the accident-free design of the basin-type reactor plant.
● Design solutions can ensure there is no impact on soil and groundwater.
● No noise pollution. ● Landscape neutrality, due to the small size of the plant and appropriate architectural solutions.
● With a fuel cycle of 60 months, it is possible to consider the option of near-reactor storage of the fuel for the entire service life.
● Minimal logistics load on the surrounding transport infrastructure as a result of the high level of autonomy of plant operation.
● The environmental impact assessment can be carried out for a standardisd 2 x 50MW plant, which could then be adapted for each site by linking it with its designated location.
Replacing heat capacities with emission-free ones in district heating systems in large and medium-sized cities in Finland is an urgent problem that currently does not have a clearly expressed solution. Provided that the legal framework on nuclear safety is updated, nuclear heating plants can be considered as a balanced solution to the problem. We believe that a 2 x 50MW plant based on the RUTA-
70 concept is the optimal configuration that meets the needs of heat suppliers as well as the requirements of the Finnish nuclear safety legislation. A unit of less than 50MW bypasses the stage of making a Decision-in-Principle by the Parliament of Finland, and the flexibility in the range of 15- 50MW corresponds to seasonal fluctuations in heat energy consumption in Finland. The high level of safety of RUTA-70 and rich operational
experience of both pool-type and PWR reactors in Finland should make it possible for STUK to license a 2 x 50MW plant design within four years and begin the construction of the first plant in Finland by 2026. To start the licensing phase, we propose consultations
on arranging R&D between Finnish research and design institutes and companies and Russian JSC “SSC RF - IPPE” and JSC “NIKIET”. ■
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12 14 13
Right, figure 2: Joint use of RUTA and peak boilers in district heating
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15 10 11 18
16 1 3 4 5 2
1 Pool-type reactor 2 Core 3 Primary heat exchanger 4 Concrete body 5 Ground 6 Cleaning system of the primary circuit 7 Ventilation system 8 Secondary circuit 9 Containment
10 Air cooling system 11 Secondary circulation pump 12 Volume compensator 13 Heat exchanger of II/III circuits 14 Peak boilers 15 Control unit 16 Network pumps 17 District heating network 18 Residential buildings
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42 | October 2021 |
www.neimagazine.com
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