At the Rooppur NPP construction site in the People's Republic of Bangladesh (with the ROSATOM’s Engineering Division being the general designer and general contractor), installation of steel structures of the outer containment dome has been completed in the reactor building of Unit 1. The upper part of the dome, having the weight of 100 tons and diameter of 34.4 meters, was installed in the design position at a height of 57.140 meters. Now the construction height is 63.910 meters and it will reach 64.500 meters after concreting of the dome.
“We have successfully completed the installation of the outer containment dome and will start its concreting soon. After that we will be able to proceed with the installation of passive heat removal systems (PHRS), which brings us remarkably closer to the physical start-up of the power unit”, commented Alexey Deriy, ASE JSC Vice President - Director for Rooppur NPP construction project.
Assembly, installation and concreting of the outer containment dome are carried out by specialists from the Trest RosSEM LLC Branch (being part of the ROSATOM’s Engineering Division). The installation was carried out in two stages. The lower part of the dome, having the weight of 200 tons and diameter of 46.3 meters, was installed in the design position a week before, on November 10.
The outer containment is a significant localizing safety system represented by a reinforced concrete structure. It protects the reactor plant from external impacts and prevents the radioactivity release into the environment in any situation.
Rooppur NPP equipped with two VVER-1200 reactors of the total 2400 MW capacity is being constructed under the Russian design 160 km from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, in accordance with the General Contract dated December 25, 2015. The Russian design with VVER-1200 reactors that had been successfully implemented at two units of Novovoronezh NPP was selected for the first NPP in Bangladesh. This is an evolutionary Generation III+ design which fully complies with all the international safety requirements.
Russian nuclear technologies adequately compete with foreign ones on the international market. They are chosen by more and more partners from friendly countries. Despite an increased complication of the global logistics, companies of the Russian nuclear industry maintain their reputation of reliable suppliers.