19.09.2011
With technical support of JSC Atomstroyexport (JSC ASE), a company of State Corporation Rosatom, Kudankulam NPP unit 1 (India) completed the hot run of the steam generating system. The hot run is one of the main stages of the unit commissioning which envisages the performance check in accordance with design requirements of the reactor plant equipment, safety essential systems and auxiliary process systems. The hot run has proved the design operation of the automatic process control system (APCS), the plant and power unit 1 auxiliary electrical equipment. Kudankulam NPP operating personnel is acquiring the skills for equipment and systems control in the modes of normal operation. All procedures and tests prior to the NPP power unit commissioning are carried out at a high technological level and with compliance to all necessary requirements, standards and rules in the nuclear power engineering.
With account of the hot run results, the Indian plant will have the second revision of the power unit 1 equipment – the check and assessment of the condition of the primary and secondary circuit main equipment and its preparation for the unit first criticality.
Previously in 2001, in view of the events in Japan, the Indian Corporation for Atomic Energy investigated the compliance of Kudankulam NPP with all requirements of safety standards and rules. JSC Atomstroyexport additionally gave the presentation concerning the safety bases of AES-92 design which satisfies in full the requirements of up-to-date regulatory and technical documents of the Russian Federation, IAEA and is certified for compliance with European Utility Requirements (EUR) applied for NPPs constructed after the year 2000.
A distinctive feature of the Russian design is a high level fitting of the power units with diagnostics systems allowing to form an advanced response of the plant operating and maintenance personnel even to the symptoms in deviations of the equipment operation, not allowing the event to occur.
The principal peculiarity of the design is implementation, in addition to traditional active safety systems, of a number of technical solutions based on “passive” principles which, according to the generally accepted criterion “general probability of the core damage”, is maximally bringing the implemented in India design into proximity with the parameters of the fourth generation designs in part of its nuclear safety.
The implementation of such construction solutions and technological systems as: a double localizing and protective containment; systems of passive heat removal from the reactor plant; a catching device for the reactor melted core; a passive system of fast injection of boron under high pressure; additional tanks providing long-term supply of borated water to the reactor by passive method; a system of passive filtration of the inter-containment space; a closed dipper of the technical water intake for the NPP which is actually a wave breaker, ensure an unprecedented design level of nuclear and ecological safety of Kudankulam NPP under construction.
Kudankulam NPP design is updated and takes into account the region’s specifics. It is based on proved technologies, assembly units, systems with account of the experience in design, manufacture and operation of the NPP previous generation VVER reactors (water moderated water cooled power reactor). The design also takes into account the peculiarities of the tropical ocean waters characterized by a great amount of marine vegetation, mollusks and fauna. In particular, NPP Kudankulam hydrotechnical structures have a sufficiently wide spectrum of functions including unorthodox systems for fish protection.
It should be noted also that Kudankulam NPP stipulates a water demineralization system for the plant’s needs. Taking into account the hot climate and developed agriculture, it was decided by the Indian Corporation for Atomic Energy that the plant would not take the water from local lakes and would provide itself with desalinated water on its own. The sea water is treated on the desalinated plant and thereafter is supplied to the demineralization plant ensuring all necessary chemical parameters of the water.
Reference:
JSC Atomstroyexport (JSC ASE) within the framework of the Intergovernmental Agreement performs the works on construction of the first phase of Kudankulam NPP in India. According to the signed contracts, the scope of JSC Atomstroyexport obligations includes: development of the technical design and working documentation, design supervision for construction of NPP buildings and structures within the design scope, supply of equipment and materials from Russia and third countries, technical support during the NPP erection and commissioning, training of operating and maintenance personnel in Russia. The customer – the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) - performs construction, erection and start-up and adjustment works at the NPP site, as well as the plant commissioning.
