Our publication tries not to lose sight of the current landmark news of the global nuclear industry and today we will tell you about the renovation processes taking place at the Armenian NPP (APP), the only nuclear power plant in the South Caucasus, which produces more than a third of all electricity generated in Armenia.
One of the key projects of Russia and Armenia in the field of nuclear energy is the project of modernization and extension of the life of the second power unit of the NPP.
So, on April 16 of this year, the second power unit of the APP was stopped for an annual scheduled preventive maintenance (PPR) for a period of 73 days.
At the same time, it should be noted that according to the results of the previous PPR, implemented mainly by Russian contractors represented by the subsidiary of Rosatom State Corporation JSC Rusatom Service, the Armenian NPP, after connecting power unit No. 2 to the power grid on October 17, for the first time in its 21-year history since the restart of the power unit, reached 98% of the installed capacity.
After the restart of the second power unit of the NPP on November 5, 1995 and until October 2021, the station operated with 92% capacity. After the PPR-2021, during which the station was shut down for almost five months, the station reached 98% utilization of installed capacity, and this is a source of additional 40 MW of electricity to the unified energy system of the country.
The PRR was carried out with the aim of extending the life of the station until 2026, as well as possible prospects for its operation until 2036. Thus, the annealing of the hull metal was carried out according to the established program and evaluated positively - this made it possible to restore the operational characteristics of the reactor metal to its original state by 80-85%. There were problems with the emergency core cooling systems - the station was unable to carry out a complete modification of the system during this PPR, and therefore the NPP did not receive permission to operate with 100% capacity, but only by 98%, until April 1, 2022, provided that the modification of the system was completed before the end of the next PPR. At the same time, this factor does not cause problems today, since safety is justified by calculations and confirmed by IAEA experts.
During the PRP-2022, it is planned to implement complex technological works in terms of production, such as the average repair of the reactor with partial restart of the core, repair of the main circulating pumps No. 4 and No. 5, maintenance of the main circulating pumps No. 1 and No. 6, overhaul of steam generators No. 4 and No. 5, average repair of turbo generators.
In the course of the repair and modernization campaign of 2022, work is already being carried out on emergency cooling of the core, as well as on the modernization of reliable power supply systems and sprinkler systems,
In addition to the employees of the workshops and the leading divisions of the NPP, highly qualified experts from Russia and other countries with extensive experience in repairing systems and equipment of nuclear power plants are mainly involved in the planned work.
Upon completion of the modernization of the NPP, the commissioning of the second power unit is scheduled for June 28 this year and this will significantly improve the efficiency of the plant and its comprehensive safety, which in turn was confirmed by Chairman of the Committee on Science of the Republic of Armenia (RA) Sargis Hayotsyan and President of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) Ashot Sagyan at an expanded meeting Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia with the participation of a delegation of the Russian Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) headed by JINR Director Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Grigory Trubnikov, held from April 14 to 16 on the fields of the A. Alikhanyan National Scientific Laboratory and Yerevan State University.
Yorumlar