Welding has been completed on the main circulation pipeline at unit 2 of the Rooppur NPP under construction in Bangladesh. Rosatom’s Engineering Division (ASE) said it took 60 days to dock, weld and heat treat the perlite part of 28 welded joints. It took another six days to complete the onion stainless steel float, which will protect the pipeline from an aggressive environment.

The main circulation pipeline (MCP) is a system of pipes connecting the main equipment of the NPP primary circuit. It consists of four loops, each connected to the reactor and includes a main circulation pump and a steam generator. The total length of the MCP is 140 metres, its weight is 238 tons, and the inner diameter is 850mm.

“During the operation of the NPP, a coolant with a temperature of 320 degrees will circulate through the MCP, so welding a pipeline is a very important process, undertaken by only the most experienced welders,” said Alexey Deriy, ASE Vice President and Director of the Rooppur construction project. “In addition, in order to weld seven centimetres of the joint, it is necessary to use different types of welding. Each welded joint undergoes seven checks at different stages of work, which guarantees its reliability and quality.”

About a hundred employees of Energospetsmontazh JSC were involved in the work. Specialists of JSC NIKIMT-Atomstroy provided technical and expert-consulting support for operations.

The Rooppur plant is being built by Rosatom on the eastern bank of the Ganges River in Bangladesh’s Pabna district, about 160 km northwest of Dhaka. It will comprise two VVER-1200 reactors. In November 2011, Russia and Bangladesh signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the construction of the NPP and in mid-December 2015, a general contract was signed. In early 2017, the Russian government provided Bangladesh with a state loan of $11.38bn to assist with the construction, which began in 2021.

Image: Welding has been completed on the main circulation pipeline at unit 2 of the Rooppur NPP (courtesy of Rosatom)

Date: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newswelding-completed-at-rooppur-2-main-circulation-pipeline-10576883