At the construction site of Russia’s Kursk II nucler power plant, the wall for the unit 1 backup control centre has been concreted a week ahead of schedule, the nuclear power plant reported on 10 April.

The building of the backup control centre is part of the complex of buildings of Kursk NPP II constructed under the VVER-TOI project, and is designed to provide remote control of the reactor installation.

“In the case of a hypothetical situation in which the main block control point is not accessible for operational personnel, a backup control point is used,” explained Kursk II chief engineer Aleksey Volnov. “From this point, with the help of individual hardware, instruments and displays, tasks are performed to manage safety systems, transfer and keep the reactor in a subcritical state, organise heat removal from the reactor, and monitor the state of the reactor installation.”

Construction of the two storey facility is carried out by the contracting organisation SMU-1. Concreting was preceded by reinforcement work which required 10.5 tonnes of metal.

After the concrete walls of the building have been strengthened, the builders will proceed with the flooring.

Earlier in April the columns for the frame of the turbine building for unit 1 was completed. Almost 2000 tonnes of metal was used in its construction which began in September 2019.

“Preparations are now underway for the installation of crane beams for the bridge cranes which are reqired for the assembly and maintenance of the turbine, ” explained the deputy chief engineer and head of the construction control department Rostislav Kimlik.  

The next step in the construction of the turbine building will be the installation of a roof trusses. Builders will then proceed to cladding the frame with wall sandwich panels.

“Along the way, equipment is being installed in the building itself... The installation process is quite lengthy, and about 10% of the work has now been completed,” continued Kimlik.

In an exclusive interview with Interfax, Nikolay Mitrofanov, first deputy director for the Construction Kursk II said the project was on schedule and that some 4700 people were working at the site.

“Now work is underway at 44 sites. Reactor buildings, turbines, pumping stations, a cooling tower for the first power unit, spray pools, the building of a reserve control unit, etc. The facilities at various degrees of readiness, the foundation is being put in place for some building while others have already reached a height of more than 30 metres,” he said.

Mitrofanov noted that people from all over Russia work at Kursk II. “The backbone of the construction team is made up of specialists who previously worked on the construction of the Novovoronezh, Leningrad and Rostov nuclear poewr plants and local, Kursk professionals.”

Photo: Construction at Russia's Kursk II nuclear plant (Credit: Rosenergoatom)

Date: Wednesday, 15 April 2020
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsrussias-kursk-ii-on-schedule-7872033