The 300 MW power unit will meet the principles of "natural safety". The BREST reactor has an integral layout. Its vessel is a metal-concrete structure, in which metal cavities are provided for the placement of primary circuit equipment. The space between the cavities is gradually filled with concrete during construction. BREST is a larger reactor, it can only be delivered in parts, and final assembly is possible only at the construction site.
Specialists from the TITAN-2 holding company, using a Liebherr LR 11350 crane, performed an operation to install a steel reactor support plate weighing 165 tons in its regular place. The builders loaded the lower tier of the enclosing structure into the reactor shaft.
The enclosing structure ensures the retention of heat-insulating concrete, forms an additional localizing protective barrier that follows the boundary of the coolant circuit. The temperature on its surface shall not exceed 60 degrees, and the radiation background is equal to the natural one.
The support plate was delivered to Seversk from St. Petersburg via the Northern Sea Route in the fall of 2022. The large-scale assembly of the enclosing structure elements of the reactor plant was performed by specialists of JSC MSU-90. The technological operation took about nine months.
EDPC Proryv is being built on the site of the Siberian Chemical Plant in order to create a closed fuel cycle technology. JSC CONCERN TITAN-2 is acting as the general contractor for the construction of the energy complex. In addition to the power unit, EDPC will also include on-site nuclear fuel cycle facilities - a complex for the production of mixed uranium-plutonium nitride fuel, as well as a module for processing irradiated nuclear fuel. Completion of works on the site is scheduled for 2026.
Ioann Averyanov, Head of SS “Proryv” of JSC CONCERN TITAN-2:
“Preparations for the operation were underway for a year. Outside the installation area, the pre-assembly of the reactor support plate weighing 170 tons and the first block of the enclosing structure weighing 160 tons was carried out. The works were carried out by the team of JSC MSU-90, about 25 people were involved - welders, fitters, engineers. To lift the pre-assembled block, a Liebherr LR 11350 crane with a lifting capacity of 1,350 tons was delivered and assembled to the construction site. During the works, we were faced with the need to change the decisions made in the design documentation. This concerned the design of the rolling track for the Liebherr crane and its location in the general layout. As to the rest, everything worked as planned. The next stage includes the installation of the intermediate shell and the installation of the central and peripheral cavities of the reactor. One could say the very heart of the reactor”.
For information:
The TITAN-2 Holding is a Russian group of companies that builds nuclear facilities. Organisations of the Holding perform the whole cycle of works, from development of basic design documentation to facility commissioning.
The TITAN-2 Holding is the general contractor for construction of the new power units of the Leningrad NPP. At the construction site, the organisations of the Holding perform all civil construction, installation, and electric installation works.
The Holding participates in the construction of Akkuyu NPP in Turkey, Paks II NPP in Hungary and El-Dabaa NPP in Egypt.