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Russian fuel company TVEL (part of state nuclear corporation Rosatom) said on 6 August that its subsidiary, the Central Institute of Design and Technology (CPTI) had been awarded and had signed the contract for supply of refuelling machines (RM) for units 1-4 of the Akkuyu NPP under construction in Turkey. The contract was awarded by Titan2 Ic Içtas Insaat, a Turkish-Russian joint venture established by Titan-2 (part of Rosatom) and Turkey’s Ic Içtas Insaat Sanayi Ve Ticaret for construction of the Akkuyu NPP.

Under the contract, CPTI will provide development of the technical documentation, supply RMs for each unit, and will install them. The equipment will be manufactured in Russia. The refuelling machine is designed for nuclear fuel loading and replacement of used fuel with fresh fuel assemblies during plant operational. As well as being used for operations with nuclear fuel assemblies and control rods, RMs are used for fuel cladding failure detection. CPTI  (Moscow) is an engineering company that combines the design and development units of TVEL’s enterprises. Its main activity areas are: the complex design of nuclear facilities, comprehensive engineering and radiation research, development of concepts and projects for decommissioning of nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities, design, manufacture and supply of non-standard technological equipment.

The RM is installed in a hermetically sealed vessel of the reactor building above the fuel storage pond and reactor pit. The total weight when assembled will be approximately 55 tons. CPTI has already begun to develop the technical project and necessary design documentation for manufacture of the RM for the Akkuyu 1, which is scheduled for supply in 2022. The equipment for all four units will be provided by 2025, and installation will be completed by early 2026.

TVEL incorporates enterprises for the fabrication of nuclear fuel, conversion and enrichment of uranium, production of gas centrifuges, as well as research and design organisations. It is the only supplier of nuclear fuel for Russian NPPs and supplies nuclear fuel for 73 power reactors in 13 countries worldwide, research reactors in eight countries, and transport reactors of the Russian nuclear fleet.  

Titan-2 Holding is a Russian group companies for nuclear construction from project documentation development to commissioning. It is the main contractor for construction of Hanhikivi-1 NPP in Finland and Akkuyu NPP.

Akkuyu NPP will comprise four units with Russian designed VVER 1200 generation 3+ reactors. The project has been fully financed by Russia and is the first nuclear project to be implemented based on a  build-own-operate model.

Date: Wednesday, 12 August 2020
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newscontract-awarded-to-supply-refuelling-machines-for-akkuyu-npp-8073659