atw 2018-04v6
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>atw</strong> Vol. 63 (<strong>2018</strong>) | Issue 4 ı April<br />
264<br />
NEWS<br />
The plant should take measures<br />
to reinforce and implement standards<br />
to enhance the performance of reactivity<br />
manipulations in a deli berate<br />
and carefully-controlled manner.<br />
The plant should improve the<br />
support, training and documented<br />
guidance for Severe Accident Management<br />
Guideline users in order to<br />
mitigate complex severe accident<br />
scenarios.<br />
The team provided a draft report of<br />
the mission to the plant’s management.<br />
The plant management and the<br />
Nuclear Safety Council (CSN), which<br />
is responsible for nuclear safety<br />
oversight in Spain, will have the<br />
opportunity to make factual comments<br />
on the draft. These will be<br />
reviewed by the IAEA and the final report<br />
will be submitted to the<br />
Government of Spain within three<br />
months.<br />
The plant management said it<br />
would address the areas identified<br />
for enhancement and requested a<br />
follow-up OSART mission in about<br />
18 months.)<br />
| | (18791443), www.iaea.org<br />
Tianwan-3 Passes Commissioning<br />
Tests at 100% Power<br />
(nucnet) The Tianwan-3 nuclear<br />
reactor unit in Jiangsu province,<br />
northeastern China, has successfully<br />
operated for 100 hours at 100% of its<br />
design power level without interruption,<br />
Russian state nuclear corporation<br />
Rosatom said.<br />
Rosatom said the 990-MW VVER<br />
V-428M unit, which started to deliver<br />
electrical energy to the grid on<br />
30 December 2017, has undergone a<br />
series of tests during the 100-hour<br />
operation period required by regulators<br />
before giving green light for<br />
commercial operation.<br />
Construction of Tianwan-3 began<br />
in December 2012. The Tianwan<br />
| | Swiss regulator approves safety case for restart of Beznau-1 (Photo: Axpo).<br />
nuclear station is the largest economic<br />
cooperation project between Russia<br />
and China, an earlier statement had<br />
said.<br />
Tianwan-1 and -2, also VVER<br />
V-428M units, began commercial<br />
operation in 2007. The Tianwan-4<br />
VVER V-428M unit is also under construction<br />
by Russia while Tianwan-5<br />
and -6 will be indigenous Generation<br />
II+ CNP-1000 units.<br />
| | en.cnnc.com.cn<br />
Swiss Regulator Approves<br />
Safety Case for Restart of<br />
Beznau-1<br />
(nucnet) Switzerland’s Federal<br />
Nuclear Safety Inspectorate, ENSI,<br />
has given the go-ahead for the restart<br />
of the Beznau-1 nuclear unit after<br />
approving the safety case presented<br />
by owner Axpo following the discovery<br />
in 2015 of flaw indications in<br />
the reactor pressure vessel (RPV).<br />
ENSI said in a statement that<br />
Axpo had carried out “extensive<br />
investigations and analyses” to<br />
demonstrate that the RPV is safe.<br />
Materials testing has shown<br />
that agglomerates in the RPV do not<br />
affect its key properties and structural<br />
integrity analysis has shown that<br />
the RPV does not contain any flaws<br />
that could lead to its failure. “IRSN<br />
is satisfied that work has been done<br />
to all appropriate national and international<br />
standards,” the statement<br />
said.<br />
Axpo said the safety case for<br />
Beznau-1, the world’s oldest commercial<br />
nuclear plant still in operation,<br />
corroborates earlier assessments<br />
and investigations, and validates the<br />
existing safety margin for the safe<br />
operation of the plant for 60 years.<br />
Operator KKB will now begin the<br />
return to service process with the<br />
plant expected to be operating at full<br />
load by the end of March <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
In December 2015 Axpo submitted<br />
a roadmap ENSI detailing plans for<br />
further investigations of flaw indications<br />
in the RPV. During a scheduled<br />
outage that began in May 2015,<br />
inspections of the RPV registered<br />
findings at some points in the base<br />
material of the RPV indicating<br />
“ minimal irregularities in the fabrication<br />
process”, Axpo said. The company<br />
carried out further measurements<br />
and analyses and submitted a<br />
report to ENSI.<br />
In July 2015, Axpo announced<br />
that the restart of Beznau-1 had been<br />
postponed while the flaw indications<br />
were investigated further. Then in<br />
August, ENSI called for additional<br />
investigations.<br />
Beznau-2 was not affected by the<br />
flaw indications and was returned to<br />
service after its scheduled outage in<br />
2015.<br />
| | www.bkw.ch<br />
Kursk II Passed<br />
Construction Milestone<br />
(rosatom) Kursk II began reinforcing<br />
the foundation slab for the reactor<br />
building of Unit 1. This operation<br />
became the year’s key event on the<br />
construction site of the Kursk plant.<br />
On 21 December 2017, the first<br />
16-ton reinforced concrete block was<br />
installed on the rebar of the lower<br />
foundation belt. According to the<br />
project design, the foundation comprises<br />
105 reinforced concrete blocks<br />
with a total weight of 1,600 tons. This<br />
will enable the construction team<br />
to start concreting the foundation<br />
slab of the reactor building in the<br />
first half of <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Prior to putting the first concrete<br />
block, a rebar coupler engraved with<br />
the words “The future is shaped today.<br />
The first coupling sleeve of the innovative<br />
VVER-TOI power unit” was<br />
ceremonially installed into the foundation<br />
reinforcement.<br />
VVER-TOI (which means ‘a standard<br />
optimized and automated power<br />
unit based on VVER technology’)<br />
reactors meet Russian and global<br />
safety requirements and have a longer<br />
service life and higher installed<br />
capacity than existing reactors of<br />
the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.<br />
Alexander Mikhailov, Governor of<br />
the Kursk Region, noted that it was<br />
an honor for the region to build<br />
and commission one of the world’s<br />
first nuclear plants with advanced<br />
VVER-TOI reactors. “Construction of<br />
Kursk II designed to meet the latest<br />
global standards offers our region<br />
development prospects for the entire<br />
News