The second large-size part of the molten core catcher in the reactor core, a cantilever-truss, has been installed on December 23 at Kudanlulam NPP Power Unit 3 Site (India).

A unit of 145.5 tons was installed at its design position below the reactor cavity of Power Unit 3 by means of a Liebherr LR11350 crawler crane based between the two nuclear islands.

“The works have been completed a little bit ahead of the project schedule agreed with the NPCIL. Complete readiness of the load-lifting systems has been provided for, which enables us, at this point, to install the heaviest equipment,” Vadim Khlivnenko, Deputy Director for projects in India and Construction Director at Kudankulam NPP Site, said. “It is an important step of the critical path of the project to install the cantilever-truss”.

The cantilever-truss is an important component of the safety system, protecting the body and communications of the molten core catcher. This elaborate engineering facility is also a part of the localizing system for beyond design-basis accidents, which functions in the passive mode as well: cooling water flows from the top to the corium through the cantilever-truss pipelines; gas disposal pipelines, in their turn, provide for saturated steam circulation lest the acceptable pressure in the cavity be exceeded. This system is one of the several ensuring that the reactor complies with the up-to-date international safety requirements.

For information:

Power units No 3,4 and 5,6 are the second and the third stages of Kudankulam NPP constructed under AES-92 design with VVER-1000 (V-412) reactor type. The technical solutions implemented in Kudankulam design characterize further evolutionary development VVER-reactor NPPs of high power and transition to creation of a new, reliable, safe and feasible power unit. New power units of Kudankulam NPP comply with the most up-to-date safety requirements of the IAEA.

The developer - the technical customer of the facility - is Nuclear Power Corporation of India. The general designer and supplier of equipment is ASE EC JSC.

Currently, power units No. 1, 2 of Kudandulam NPP are operating at the capacity established by the grid operator’s schedule.

The radiation level at Kudankulam NPP and its location area corresponds to the level of normal operation of power units and does not exceed natural background values.



For reference:

The Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division was established by integration of the leading companies of the industry: JSC ASE EC (Nizhny Novgorod), JSC Atomstroyexport (Moscow), JSC Atomenergoproekt (Moscow) and JSC ATOMPROEKT (St-Petersburg).

The Engineering Division is one of the global leaders in nuclear power engineering and holds about 30% of the global NPP construction market. It carries out its activities in Europe, Middle East and Northern Africa as well as in the Asia-Pacific region. 80% of the portfolio include foreign projects.

It implements design and construction projects for high-power NPPs, renders a full range of EPC, EPC(M) services and develops Multi-D technologies for management of complex engineering facilities. The Engineering Division rests upon the 50-year experience of the Russian nuclear power industry and state-of-the-art innovation technologies.

We construct reliable and safe NPPs with 3+Gen VVER reactors that are in line with all international requirements and recommendations.

www.ase-ec.ru
Cantilever-truss of the molten core catcher has been installed at Kudankulam NPP Power Unit 3
Cantilever-truss of the molten core catcher has been installed at Kudankulam NPP Power Unit 3