Russia Beefs Up Extreme Impact Defense Measures at Nuclear Plants

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In the first half of 2011, Russia's state-owned Energoatom Concern OJSC (Moscow), formerly known as Rosenergoatom, set up task forces to analyze and prepare lists of possible accident development scenarios at nuclear power plants in Russia, along with response measures that would mitigate the impact beyond design-basis accidents on the population and the environment.

The $80 million program has been completed along with measures to reduce consequences of hypothetical accidents that are beyond design basis at the group's nuclear power plants. The work has covered the installation of a mobile diesel generator and pumps. A company statement said that 66 mobile generators, 35 mobile pumping stations and 80 monoblock pumps had been supplied to the nuclear power stations. This equipment is intended to improve the plants' stability to extreme impacts.

Back-up power supply sources will be provided by the mobile diesel generators for safety and safety-related systems. These will include pumps, valves, local shutdown panels, instrumentation and control and lighting systems under accidents that are beyond design basis.

The mobile pumping stations and monoblock pumps are designed to supply cooling water from back-up sources to main circulation loops of reactor installations at reactor spent fuel pools, as well as separate spent nuclear fuel storage facilities.

Seismic protection systems are planned for the nuclear power plants and already have been installed at most plants. They are in trial operation at Novovoronezh, Kola and Kursk, and are due to be installed at Bilibino, Leningrad and Smolensk during 2013-14.

The company currently controls 10 nuclear power plants with 31 reactors. A total of 59 reactors is targeted for 2030.

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