The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and a steam generator has been delivered from Russia to the Rooppur nuclear construction site in Bangladesh, according to ASE, Rosatom’s engineering division.

A special barge delivered a VVER-1200 RPV and a steam generator for unit 1 of the Rooppur NPP from the Bangladesh seaport of Mongla along the Padma River to the newly built river terminal in the immediate vicinity of the construction site. Earlier, on 20 October, the equipment arrived on the Daisy freighter at Mongla port, where it was loaded onto a river barge.

The transportation of massive equipment (the weight of the RPV is 333.6t  and the steam generator, 340t) to the construction site took almost 2.5 months. The distance along the sea and river routes was, in total, more than 14,000 kilometres.

The equipment was manufactured at the Atommash plant in Volgodonsk, a branch of the AEM-technologies company (part of ASE subsidiary Atomenergomash). From the Atommash site, the equipment was transported by truck to the pier of the Tsimlyansk reservoir in Volgodonsk, and from there - by water to Novorossiysk. From the port of Novorossiysk the equipment was shipped to Bangladesh by sea - through the Black Sea and the Suez Canal. The last part of the difficult route to the NPP construction site ran along the Padma River.

The reactor is a vertical cylindrical body with an elliptical bottom, inside which the core and internals are located. The steam generator is a cylindrical vessel with two elliptical bottoms. In its middle part there are collectors for supplying and removing the coolant, in the upper part - the steam space, and in the lower part - a heat exchanger consisting of 11,000 stainless pipes with a total length of 148.5 km.

Rooppur NPP is being built by Rosatom with two VVER-1200 reactors. Rooppur 1 is currently scheduled to start operating 2023, followed by Rooppur 2 a year later.

Photo: The RPV for Rooppur was shipped in August (credit; Rosatom)