DHAKA: Atomenergoproekt, a subsidiary of Russia’s state nuclear corporation ROSATOM has designed a new core catcher for nuclear power plants, which was recently presented to Turkish nuclear specialists.

Designed for the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Turkey the improved core catcher is characterized by a higher seismic resistance, a stronger impact and dynamic resistance, easier to install and other advantages, said a press release.

“With each project we have been improving the methods for assembling and installing the core catcher based on our research findings”, said Alexander Sidorov, Head of the Layout and Operation Bureau for Integrated Design of Atomenergoproekt.

“We have developed a simpler and more convenient plan for installing the core catcher making it possible to reduce the time required for its installation by at least one month”, he added.

According to him, the design of the core catcher has been improved to enable the power unit to withstand greater load due to the maximum estimated earthquake.

The improved core catcher is equipped with a more efficient cooling mechanism for its own load-bearing elements, which makes it possible to reduce the consumption of materials by the core catcher equipment, supporting the functioning of its main element, the casing with filler.

Overall, the improved core catcher is about 15% lighter than the present model. Moreover, designers have improved the technology for installing the device.

The core catcher is an invention of Russian nuclear engineers.  The device consists of a container installed under the bottom of the reactor vessel.

In case of a hypothetical emergency the core catcher catches liquid and solid fragments of the reactor core and fragments of structural materials of the reactor, thus preventing any damage to the containment building and release of radioactive materials into the environment.

The world’s first core catchers were installed at the Tianwan NPP in China and the Kudankulam NPP in India. 

In Russia, the first plants equipped with core catchers are the Novovoronezhskaya NPP-2 and the Leningradskaya NPP-2. The same will be used in the Rooppur NPP in Bangladesh.

The Akkuyu NPP is being built in Turkey according to Atomenergoproekt’s generation 3+ AES-2006 project, where the most state-of-art solutions are used to provide the safety of nuclear power plants.

BDST: 1950 HRS, OCT 18, 2014