Russia has taken another step towards strengthening its position in the field of nuclear energy. The domestic transport container for transporting used nuclear installations has passed the necessary tests and certification.
The project authors note that this product is unique, it is developed in its current modification for the first time and released in a single copy. It was developed to order by the A.P. Alexandrov Research and Technological Institute and constructed by the Central Design and Technological Institute (JSC 'CDTI', part of Rosatom's Fuel Company 'TVEL').
The length of the transport kit in assembled form is more than 10 m, width - 4.5 m, height - about 7 m. The total weight of the product without content - more than 100 tons, and with a packed steam-generating unit - more than 290 tons.
The peculiarity of this project was that the inner surface of the container for the SGB had to be flooded with lead. It was necessary to achieve uniformity of the lead layer, the absence of voids. But lead decreases in volume when cooled, hence several cycles of melting and topping up were required. This was a most challenging task, but our specialists solved it, developing their own filling technology, which, undoubtedly, brought unique experience to the institute.
For Russia, this is the first domestic object of its kind in the direction of decommissioning nuclear and radiation hazardous objects and handling radioactive waste.