The manufacture of a set of bends for the reactor coolant pipeline for the first unit of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant's (NPP) has been completed, the reactor's manufacturer Atomenergomash announced on Monday.
Atommash, the Volgodonsk branch of AEM-technology, which operates alongside Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation's (Rosatom) machine-building division of Atomenergomash, completed the manufacture of a total of 16 reactor coolant pipeline bends.
Each bend, with an outer diameter of 995 millimeters, weights in at seven tons.
The 160 meter-long reactor coolant pipeline is designed to connect the main equipment of the primary circuit of a nuclear power plant: a reactor, steam generators and reactor coolant pump. Pipelines belong to the first category of seismic resistance and are able to withstand a nine-point magnitude earthquake.
According to the company, work for the manufacture of reactor coolant pipeline bends was carried out in three stages; the first involves ovalization for the pressing of cold blanks to the required form, followed by stamping and then heating to harden the finished bend.
Atomenergomash also manufactures reactor equipment for plants in India, Bangladesh, China and Russia.
An intergovernmental agreement was signed between Turkey and Russia in May 2010 for the Akkuyu NPP that will consist of four VVER-1200 power units with a total installed capacity of 4,800 megawatts.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin presided over the plant's groundbreaking ceremony held on April 3, 2018, via a video conference call from Ankara.
The first reactor of the plant is planned to be operational in 2023.
By Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr