Steam header shipped off for first unit of Rooppur NPP

The branch of JSC “AEM-technology” in Volgodonsk — a part of machine-building division of Rosatom – Atomenergomash — has manufactured and shipped steam headers for the first unit of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP).

A steam header is one of the largest components of a steam generator; its length is over 11 metres, width is 2.7 metres, height is about 3 metres, and weight is over 7 tonnes.

It will be welded to 10 steam discharge nozzles on the steam generator vessel. Dried steam goes out through the nozzles and enters the steam header, from where it enters the turbine plant through the pipeline system.

The items were shipped by road to the port of St Petersburg. Then the equipment will be loaded onto a barge and transported to the NPP site. The sea route will be about 14,000 kilometres.

The steam generator is a heat-exchange equipment that is a part of the reactor plant; it belongs to the items of the safety class 1. Diameter of the equipment is more than 4 metres, length is about 14 metres, weight is 340 tonnes. The equipment of one NPP power unit includes four steam generators.

Rooppur NPP is designed and constructed by the Engineering Division of Rosatom State Corporation.

The plant will consist of two power units with VVER-1200 reactors, the operational life of which is 60 years with the possibility of extending the service life for 20 years.