Russia’s AEM-Technologies (part of Rosatom’s mechanical engineering division Atomenergomash) has assembled the upper half-shell of the reactor for unit 7 of the Tianwan NPP in China, Atomenergomash said on 27 July. The assembly was carried out on a vertical assembly stand. Specialists connected two shells of the nozzle area and a flange. Then the 150-ton assembly was turned to a horizontal position using a rotator and moved to the welding stand with the help of a crane. The upper casing is now ready to weld two circumferential seams.

The reactor is a vertical cylindrical body with an elliptical bottom, inside which the core and internals are located. From above, it is hermetically sealed with a lid with installed drives of mechanisms and controls and protection of reactors and nozzles for outputting cables of sensors for in-reactor control. In the upper part of the body there are nozzles for supplying and removing the coolant, as well as nozzles for emergency supply of the coolant when the circuit is depressurised.

For Tianwan 7&8, Atommash will manufacture two reactor vessels with internals, a cover and an upper block, and two sets of steam generators. An intergovernmental protocol and a framework contract for the construction of VVER-1200 reactors at the two units was signed in 2018 and first concrete was poured earlier in May. Rosatom’s Engineering Division, ASE EC, is responsible for design and construction.