Power unit 1 of Bushehr nuclear plant brought to 100% of design power: Rosatom

TEHRAN,Sept.2(MNA) – Power unit 1 of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant has been brought to 100% of design power, Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation said in a press release on Friday. Following is the text of the press release: On the 30th of August at 18:47 local time the reactor of power unit 1 of Bushehr NPP (Islamic Republic of Iran) was brought to 100% of design power in the framework of the first power program. Vladimir Pavlov, Deputy Director of NIAEP for construction of NPP in Iran and Turkey, said this was the concluding stage of the power unit commissioning, during which the systems and equipment would be tested at the design power level. He emphasized that safety issues were the main priority of NPP construction, therefore, power build-up of the reactor was carried out in stages, with required tests of the plant equipment run to ensure its safe operation in future. According to Head of Department for Construction of NPP in Iran at Atomstroyexport Igor Mezenin, who has led the Iranian site for more than five years, a unique facility that has no analogues in the world in terms of nuclear build has been brought to 100% power. “Our nuclear specialists have managed to integrate the Russian equipment into the civil structures built to a German design and, in addition, to use about 12 tons of the German equipment, he noted. “Huge work to assess conditions and applicability of the German equipment, buildings and structures was done. The architects had to develop and apply a number of smart engineering solutions and know-how to adapt the Russian technologies to already available capacities on the site.” Therefore, Bushehr NPP project made use of the critical nuclear island equipment and turbine of the Russian design. With this, buildings of the plant were designed by Germans and, to install the Russian VVER reactor, the reactor hall layout had to be changed. Also, the turbine design was changed to make possible installing it in the turbine hall designed and built by Kraftwerk Union A.G. For information: The United Company NIAEP-Atomstroyexport is completing construction of Bushehr NPP started by the concern Kraftwerk Union A.G. (Siemens/KWU) in 1974. In 1980 the concern terminated its contract with the Iranian customer due to the decision made by the German Government to join the U.S. embargo on supplies of equipment to Iran. On the 24th of August, 1992, the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran signed an agreement concerning the cooperation in the peaceful uses of atomic energy and on August 25, 1992 the agreement to build the nuclear power plant in Iran was signed. In January 1995 the contract concerning the construction completion of power unit 1 of Bushehr NPP was signed. In 1998 an addendum to the contract was signed under which Atomstroyexport was to complete the construction of one power unit of 1000 megawatt installed capacity with a V-446 reactor installation on the turn-key terms. Since 2012 the project has been implemented by the United Company NIAEP-ASE. In fact, the Russian side started counting out the Bushehr NPP construction in 1998. In 2001 supplies of the critical process equipment to the NPP started. In 2009-2010 NPP equipment pressure tests and steel containment were carried out. In July 2010 the nuclear steam supply system underwent hot runs. On the 21st of August, 2010, the first criticality program started at Bushehr NPP. Fresh nuclear fuel was delivered to the reactor hall of Bushehr NPP under supervision of IAEA inspectors. On the 8th of May, 2011, the nuclear steam supply system was brought to the minimum controlled power. At the start of this work the self-sustained nuclear fission reaction in nuclear fuel began in the core of the first nuclear power plant in Iran. On the 5th of September, 2011, Bushehr NPP generator was synchronized and connected to the grid at 65 MW power. First kilowatts of electricity produced by the plant were released to the national power grid of Iran.