(File)
Hydraulic tests have been carried out on the first power unit of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey to check the strength of the reactor plant’s primary circuit, according to Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.
During the tests, pressure in the primary circuit was raised to 24.5 megapascals (MPa), about 1.5 times the reactor plant’s normal operating pressure.
Rosatom said this is equivalent to the pressure at a depth of about 2.4 kilometres in the ocean. In the first stage of the process, the water in the circuit reached 135 degrees Celsius, 35 degrees above the temperature at which water boils at normal atmospheric pressure.
For the tests, the circuit was filled with chemically demineralised water. The main circulation pump units were then used to create the required pressure and temperature conditions.
Unit staff monitored the condition of equipment and pipelines from the main control room using data from the automated control system.
Rosatom director general Alexey Likhachev said thousands of engineering tasks had been carried out during construction of the unit.