Extra-strong outer containment of VVER-1200 reactor started to be erected at Leningrad NPP-2

The structure, over 70 meters high, is capable of withstanding hurricanes, shock waves, earthquakes and external explosions

The installation of the outer extra-strong containment of the reactor building has begun at the construction site of power unit No. 3 of the VVER-1200 of the Leningrad NPP-2. The structure is considered part of a passive safety system that will protect the reactor, steam generators and other key elements from external influences.

construction of Leningrad NPP-2

The builders will consistently erect several tiers of the reinforcing cage and fill them with special concrete. As a result, they will create a powerful structure more than 70 meters high, almost 52 meters in diameter and 800 millimeters thick, capable of withstanding not only hurricanes, shock waves, earthquakes and external explosions, but also the fall of aviation equipment.

Leningrad NPP-2
The construction of the outer containment will be carried out layer by layer. We plan that the first one will be ready in November. The construction of a structure about four meters high will require more than two hundred tons of steel reinforcement and almost six hundred cubic meters of concrete mix. At the beginning of next year, the shell will "grow" by another four meters. The outer containment will be fully completed in 2028.
  Evgeny Milushkin, Deputy Director for Capital Construction — Head of the Capital Construction Department of Leningrad NPP-2 

In parallel with the outer containment of the reactor building of power unit No. 3 of the VVER-1200 of the Leningrad NPP-2, the builders are also erecting its inner containment. During the operation of the power unit, it will prevent the release of radioactive substances and ionizing radiation into the environment. Two containments of the reactor building will ensure the highest level of safety of the new power unit.

In addition to the construction of protective shells, the general contractor's personnel is carrying out other work on the reactor building of Unit No. 3 of the VVER-1200: continues installation of "melt trap" elements, erects internal building structures, is engaged in the installation and concreting of embedded parts and the construction of a closed controlled grounding circuit.

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