The construction team has completed the concreting of the 2nd power block’s reactor-auxiliary building at the -0.050 mark. This is the initial step of building one of the main facilities in the Kursk NPP-2 second ‘nuclear’ island.

‘The reactor-auxiliary building will house normal operation technology system premises, process environment containers, exhaust ventilation center with an air shaft, and electric rooms related to the controlled access area’, Nikolay Mitrofanov, first deputy director of new power blocks construction, told about the importance of the facility. ‘That’s also where the fresh air center and the free access area electric rooms are going to be located’.

The -0.050 mark is, in its essence, the flooring of the future building’s ground floor. The design project caters for 8 elevated floors and an underground one. The reactor-auxiliary building’s dimensions are 60 and 66 meters, with the height of 32.6 meters.

‘The reactor-auxiliary building was the first place where we practiced the industry-specific large-block construction method. When reinforcing the flooring, we used turnkey large-sized reinforcement formworks’, Nikolay Mitrofanov continued. ‘We didn’t have to waste time on formwork installation since the blocks already came with steel fiber reinforced concrete flagstones covering this feature; besides, we didn’t have to dismantle the formworks as they will remain the wall and flooring covering. Another thing that helped us optimize the time lines is self-consolidating concrete. It was the first time we used it with this kind of formworks’.

According to Roman Shilin, the deputy director of the Kursk NPP-2 construction at OA ‘NIKIMT-Atomstroy’, the pre-requisites for the successful and timely delivery of this key milestone where the close collaboration between the customer, the general contractor and the general designer as well as the implementation of innovative block construction methods, including the usage of permanent steel fiber reinforced concrete formwork.

Following the concrete strength development, the next step will be the erection of wall frameworks up to the +4.750 meters, their concreting and the installation of the new flooring. In parallel, the preliminary equipment installation will begin in the building with over 20 units of equipment to be taken care of.

The reactor-auxiliary building’s constructions have a life duration of 100 years.