The Russian contractor has installed a trestle crane at unit-1 for loading and unloading of fuel and heavy equipment at Rooppur nuclear power plant (NPP) in north-western Bangladesh.
The trestle crane was manufactured in Russia and delivered to the Rooppur NPP construction site in a disassembled state.
The weight of the assembled equipment is 225 tonnes with a lifting capacity of 360 tonnes and was installed at an elevation of over 47.50 metres, said Tuine Group, the official PR agency of Rosatom in Bangladesh.
"The equipment is necessary for reloading super-heavy equipment and transporting fresh and spent fuel during the NPP operation," Alexei Deriy, Atomstroyexport vice-president and director of the plant project, was quoted as saying by Truine.
Sources said Russia would supply nuclear fuel for the country's maiden Rooppur nuke plant in September.
Russia has decided to deliver the nuclear fuel by air.
Production of the first batch of fuel for Rooppur NPP has already been completed and gets the nod for shipment.
Acceptance inspection of the initial batch has taken place at Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NCCP), an enterprise of Rosatom's Fuel Company (TVEL) on August 09, according to the sources.
Representatives of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), NCCP, TVEL, and Atomstroyexport (ASE), participated in the inspection.
Following the scrutiny, Rooppur NPP project director Dr Shawkat Akbar and Mr Deriy signed the acceptance protocol, paving the way for shipping the first batch of fuel from the manufacturing plant.
The BAEC previously attained necessary licences for handling, storage and transportation of nuclear fuel to run the nuclear power plant.
Sources said the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA) recently issued class B, D and E licences to the BAEC for implementing the RNPP project.
The Rooppur NPP is under construction at Iswardi upazila under Pabna district.
Two units of the project with a total capacity of 2,400MWe are being constructed under a Russian design.
Each unit will be equipped with Generation 3+ VVER-1200 reactor that fully complies with all the international safety requirements.
The engineering division of Rosatom State Corporation is implementing the project as the general contractor.
azizjst@yahoo.com
