The fabrication of the heat-exchanging apparatus, also known as the relief tank, for the under-construction unit 5 of India’s Kudankulam nuclear power plant (KNPP) has been completed and is ready for shipment to India, according to the Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom.
Rosatom is the equipment supplier and technical consultant for the KNPP being operated by the state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). The KNPP units 1 and 2 of 1,000 MW capacity each were commissioned in 2013 and 2017, respectively. As per an intergovernmental agreement, Rosatom is similarly collaborating in the construction of four more units at Kudankulam – 3, 4, 5 and 6 – of 1,000 MW capacity each.
A Rosatom release earlier this week said that the relief tank, manufactured by its subsidiary ZiO-Podolsk, is one of the key pieces of equipment for an NPP.
“It is intended for condensation of steam coming from the pressure compensator and other equipment of the primary circuit in the modes of heating and other operating modes of reactor”, the statement said.
The apparatus is made of austenitic chromium-nickel steel. It weighs 15 tonnes, is 8 meters (m) in length, around 2.5 m in diameter, and 4 m in height, the statement added.
According to Rosatom, ZiO-Podolsk has earlier manufactured equipment for the reactor and turbine halls of the KNPP’s operating units 1 and 2, as well as several other items such as steam generators, high pressure heaters, heat-exchanging modules, pipelines and filters.
