At power unit number 7 of the Novovoronezh NPP (branch of JSC Rosenergoatom Concern, electric power division of Rosatom State Corporation), during scheduled maintenance the main stage of “cold” testing of the sample of lead from the TUK-137TR container. .
The so-called “cold” tests involve carrying out a full cycle of work with technological and transport equipment without moving spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Instead, FA simulators were loaded into the container, fully replicating the weight and size characteristics of real FAs.
During the tests, the container was transported to the reactor compartment of power unit No. 7, installed in a universal socket, and the installation of fuel element simulators in the casing channels, sealing of the lid and decontamination. The entire process was controlled by a special commission chaired by Deputy Chief Engineer for Safety and Reliability Oleg Kucherenko.
“We decided to divide the tests into two stages. We have now carried them out in the reactor department and the routine raising and lowering of the container to the transport portal will be carried out later this year. The first and most difficult stage was successfully completed. Now we have to complete the manufacturing of equipment for test work outside the reactor compartment and complete it completely. The development of such containers is an extremely important and relevant task for both Russian nuclear power plants and foreign projects. In the near future, the nuclear industry will establish the process of its production and begin to remove spent nuclear fuel from power unit number 6, as it will be the first power unit to operate with reactors of the VVER-1200 type,” he said. Evgeniy Golubev, head of the nuclear safety and reliability department of the NV NPP.
Reference
Transport and Packaging Containers (TPC) are necessary to transport spent nuclear fuel to regeneration plants for storage and reprocessing. Its development makes it possible to safely extract new types of spent fuel from Russian nuclear power plants with VVER-1200 type reactors, which, in turn, ensures uninterrupted operation of power units and stable power generation.
The container passed factory tests and was delivered to the industry acceptance commission in 2022. The customer of the “main” container TUK-137T.R was JSC NFC Logistics Center, which is part of the TENEX group of companies. The development must go through a cycle of technological tests (“cold”, thermophysical, “hot”) in different nuclear power plants and fuel reprocessing plants before being put into operation. The “cold” technological tests of the NV nuclear power plant container open this cycle.
To transport the TUK-137T.R, the TK-U railway transporter, owned by the Federal State Unitary Enterprise, the Mining and Chemical Combine, has been modernized. A decision is currently being prepared to start serial production of TUK-137TR containers for the removal of Russian spent fuel from the VVER-1200/1300 reactors, as well as from the Belarusian nuclear power plant, within the framework of the concluded agreement Intergovernmental agreement on the management of spent nuclear fuel.
