The installation of passive heat removal system (PHRS) elements has been completed on the dome of the reactor building of Unit 1 of the Akkuyu NPP (under construction by Rosatom). Specialists gradually completed the installation of deflector, heat exchangers, and electromagnetic devices, totaling about 90 components of equipment and building structures. At the final stage of the installation, air ducts were installed on the dome of the reactor building and the PHRS floor slabs were concreted.
"We completed the installation of passive heat removal system structures at Power Unit No.1. This is the result of month well-coordinated work by specialists and a key stage in preparing the Power Unit for launch operations. PHRS is one of the numerous safety systems for modern power units with VVER-1200 type reactors. The system operates through natural physical processes that do not require an electricity source or operator intervention," Akkuyu Nuclear JSC Chief Executive Officer Sergei Butckikh noted.
PHRS refers to additional, so-called passive NPP
safety systems of "3+" generation NPPs. It consists of four independent channels, one for each steam generator. Each channel includes two heat exchangers, steam-condensate pipelines
and air ducts with valves and a controller. The system is based on the
principle of natural air circulation. Atmospheric air
enters the heat exchangers, heats up, rises through the air ducts to the outlet
manifold located above the dome of the reactor building, from where it returns
to the atmosphere, thereby cooling the reactor compartment. The system is designed for long-term heat removal from the reactor core
into the atmosphere in case the power supply the power unit is disabled. At
Russian–designed nuclear power plants, the system was first installed at the
new power units of the Novovoronezh NPP, the reference nuclear power plant for
Akkuyu NPP.
Akkuyu NPP is the first nuclear power plant being built in the Republic of Türkiye. Akkuyu NPP project includes four power units equipped with Generation 3+ VVER reactors of Russian design. The capacity of each power unit will be 1200 MW. Akkuyu NPP is the first project in the global nuclear industry being implemented according to the Build-Own-Operate model.
