At the construction site of Kursk NPP-2* the works on concreting of the bed plate of the unit pump station (UPS) – the first facility of the main water coolant system of the power unit No 1 with the innovative VVER-TOI** reactor - was started ahead of schedule five days ago. The UPS purpose is to provide the circulation of the water coolant through the turbine condensers with the supply of heated water to the cooling tower.

In the first section the specialists of Kursk branch of SMU No 1 JSC – a subsidiary enterprise of the Engineering Company ASE EC JSC - poured 300 cubic metres of concrete. At the present time, the concrete gains strength.

“The concreting in the sub-zero temperatures has its special aspects, but it’s not difficult. The electric heating of the poured concrete is used, and antifreezing agents are added in the concrete composition; the ‘thermos’ method is applied – the covering of the concreted section”, the chief engineer of SMU No 1 JSC Aleksey Zhalskikh told about the technology of the works. “Besides, the concrete is exothermic, that means that during the process of gaining strength it generates heat, so our task is only to save this heat.”

At the same time the specialists prepare the second section for the concreting, where 2.6 thousand cubic metres will be poured till the mid-December. In total, it’s planned to pour 3 thousand cubic metres of mixture in the UPS bed plate till the end of the year.

“About 80 people are involved in the works – 45 people work in day shift, and 35 people work at night”, the Head of Section of SMU No 1 JSC Vitaliy Borodin explained. “The personnel are experienced, previously these specialists worked at Novovoronezh and Rostov power units’ construction.”

The size of the unit pump station is 48x30 m, the height of the building is 19 m. This is the most sunken building of all constructed at the area – minus 13 m. The UPS is situated between the turbine house and evaporating cooling tower. The underground part of the building is divided in the water intake part, turbine island, and the auxiliary equipment facility.

“The thickness of the bed plate of the unit pump station is three metres; this is even more than the foundation of the reactor building – 2.6 m. It is due to the fact that the building is technologically connected with two facilities – turbine building and the evaporative cooling tower”, the chief engineer of the KuNPP-2 construction management Nikolay Bobelev explained.

The specialists are to complete the UPS bed plate concreting till the end of April. In total 6 thousand cubic metres of concrete mixture will be poured.

Until the end of this year, another significant event will happen at the KuNPP-2 construction site – the start of the reinforcing of the bed plate of the reactor building of the power unit No 2.