The installation of the steel structures of the outer containment dome has been completed in record time at unit 2 of the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh, Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom announced.

The installation of the outer containment dome was carried out in two stages. The lower part of the structure, having a weight of 200 tonnes and a diameter of 46.3 metres, was installed in the design position last week.

The upper part of the dome structure, having a weight of 129 tonnes and diameter of 34.5 metres, has now been installed in the design position at a height of 57.1 metres. Now the construction height is 63.9 metres and it will reach 65.4 metres after concreting of the dome.

"Specialists of the Engineering Division have set a record - they installed the outer containment dome in two days," Rosatom said. "This is the shortest time period for performance of such operation."

"We have successfully completed the installation of the outer containment dome and will start its concreting soon," said Rooppur plant construction project director Alexey Deriy. "After that we will be able to proceed with the installation of passive heat removal systems."

Russia's VVER-1200 reactor design features a double containment system. The main function of the double-layered containment building is to ensure the integrity and leak tightness of the reactor building, and it plays a key role in the containment of radioactive substances.

The inner containment around the reactor building of Rooppur 2 was installed in June 2022 and concreted in May 2023.

Rosatom in February 2011 signed an agreement for two reactors to be built at Rooppur for the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission. The initial contract for the project, worth USD12.65 billion, was signed in December 2015. The Rooppur plant, 160 kilometres from the capital Dhaka, features two Russian VVER-1200 reactors. Construction of the first unit began in November 2017 and it is scheduled to be commissioned in 2024. Construction of the second unit at Rooppur began in July 2018.

by world-nuclear-news