Atomenergoproekt (St. Petersburg)

JSC SPbAEP is one of the oldest design organizations of the Russian nuclear industry , which originates from the Teploelectroproekt Institute , whose task was to implement the GOELRO plan . For 80 years, JSC SPbAEP has designed 118 power plants, including 18 nuclear power plants: from the creation of a turbine hall for the first-ever nuclear power plant in Obninsk in 1954 to the design of the Tianwan NPP in China.

According to SPbAEP projects, Kola NPP and Beloyarsk NPP in Russia, Bohunice NPP and Mochovce NPP in Slovakia, Dukovany and Temelin NPP in the Czech Republic, Loviza NPP in Finland were commissioned.

In 2008, SPbAEP becomes an engineering company, and on July 1, 2008, an open joint stock company. 100% of the company's shares were transferred to Atomenergoprom OJSC, which consolidates the enterprises of the civilian part of the Russian nuclear industry. The engineering company SPbAEP also owned a controlling stake in OJSC Northern Management of Construction (OJSC SUS) ^[3] and OJSC Management of Industrial Enterprises.

In August 2012, the process of merging SPbAEP and the “Head Institute” of VNIPIET began. In June of the following year, the sole shareholder of both companies, OJSC Atomenergoprom, decided to reorganize enterprises by merging SPbAEP to VNIPIET ^{[4] [5} According to Kirill Komarov, director of Atoenergoprom, reorganization was carried out with a view to globalizing business in order to increase the competitiveness of companies in the domestic and foreign markets ^[6] . In 2014, the process was completed with the creation of the combined company Atomproekt.

JSC SPbAEP provides a wide range of design and survey, construction, installation and commissioning works for the construction of nuclear power plants.

Scientific Activities

The company carries out research and development work for the designed and existing nuclear power facilities. The main areas are:

• development of a safety concept for designed NPPs and justification of modernization projects for existing NPPs;
• development of methodological foundations and computer codes for justifying design decisions and performing safety analyzes;
• calculation and experimental substantiation of localizing systems, safety systems and beyond design basis accident management systems, including severe accidents;
• performing deterministic and probabilistic safety analyzes;
• complex of research works aimed at resolving issues to improve the efficiency of NPP units with WWER;
• analysis of radiation and technogenic effects of nuclear power plants on the environment;
• development of non-standard equipment for NPP auxiliary systems, safety systems and beyond design basis accident management systems;
• development of virtual models of power units for the development of design solutions.

Design Objects

JSC SPbAEP is designing the following objects:

• unit No. 4 with a BN- 800 reactor for the Beloyarsk NPP;
• the machine building of unit 1 of the Bushehr NPP in Iran with a VVER- 1000 reactor ;
• Leningrad NPP-2 with VVER-1200 reactors (as a general designer);
• Baltic NPP with VVER-1200 reactors;
• Southwestern CHP in St. Petersburg and others.

As a general designer, SPbAEP constructed NPP-91 for the project and commissioned (in 2007) two units of the Tianwan NPP in the PRC. A project is under development for two more power units at this site.

In addition, SPbAEP is involved in the modernization and extension of the life of the operating power units of the Kola, Beloyarsk, Kursk, Smolensk, Leningrad NPPs and other energy facilities of Russia.

Leningrad NPP-2 (LNPP-2)

The ceremonial laying of the capsule on the site of the future LNPP-2 took place on August 30, 2007. LNPP-2 is the result of the evolutionary development of NPPs with VVER-1200 (water-cooled power reactors). Water is used as a coolant and as a neutron moderator in such a reactor. The closest analogue is the Tianwan NPP in China, also built under the project of JSC SPbAEP and put into commercial operation in 2007.

The electric power of each power unit of the VVER type is defined at 1,198.8 MW, the heating capacity is 250 Gcal / h. The estimated service life of LNPP-2 is 50 years, the main equipment is 60 years. Commissioning of the first power unit is scheduled for 2013.

Baltic NPP

The construction of the Baltic NPP is carried out within the framework of the cooperation agreement between Rosatom and the government of the Kaliningrad region. The decisive document was a decree signed on September 25, 2009 about the construction of a Baltic nuclear power plant in the territory of the Kaliningrad Region. The engineering company JSC SPbAEP has been defined as the general designer of the station.

The project of the Baltic NPP, consisting of two power units, is a serial project of the nuclear power plant “AES-2006” based on the LNPP-2 project. The Baltic NPP will ensure the energy independence of the Kaliningrad region.

The electric power of each power unit of the Baltic NPP with a VVER-1200 reactor (water-cooled power reactor) was determined to be 1,198.4 MW, the heating plant - 250 Gcal / h. The estimated service life of the Baltic NPP is 50 years, the main equipment is 60 years. Commissioning of the first power unit is scheduled for 2016, the second - for 2018.

JSC SPbAEP erects nuclear power plants in accordance with Russian and international safety requirements. When designing new NPP units with VVER type reactors, four active channels of safety systems are used, duplicating each other, passive heat removal systems from under the reactor shell and from steam generators, as well as a device for melt localization. Technical solutions are consistent with the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency . - The first in the world practice SPbAEP experts have designed and installed a melt localization device ( melt trap ), which was first installed at the Tianwan NPP in China, during the construction of a nuclear power plant. The melt trap is located directly under the reactor itself (at the bottom of the reactor shaft) and is a cone-shaped metal structure with a total weight of more than 800 tons. The trap is filled with a special, so-called sacrificial material ^[7] , which allows to exclude in the case of an unlikely, hypothetical accident (the so-called " Chinese syndrome ") the impact of molten fuel on the concrete base of the protective shell of the reactor building and does not allow radioactivity to go beyond the protective shell in environment. Another very important function of the trap is to ensure subcriticality of the melt. In the event of an accident, the molten fuel and the wreckage of the structural elements of the reactor are in such conditions in the body of the trap, under which a chain reaction is not possible.

The melt trap for LNPP-2 has a number of innovations. For example, if the hull structure of the Tianwan NPP trap consisted of 12 modular heat exchangers that resembled boots in shape, which were then installed in a single bowl, the design of the LNPP-2 trap hull is made in the form of a single shell that looks like a reactor shell. This design has the best strength characteristics.

There are differences in the protection of the body of the trap from overheating. A double case is provided in the trap for LNPP-2: the first wall is 60 mm thick, the second is 30 mm thick. The space between them is filled with a special substance - GOGA (granules of iron oxide + aluminum oxide ). In the case of local penetrations of the inner wall of the body, the granules interact with the melt and create a temporary additional protective barrier preventing the penetration of the outer body. In addition, the design of the melt trap at LNPP-2 provides for cooling in a completely passive manner.