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iiil Focus on Russia 1 Technology
Russian NPP-2006: a new
generation of safety
Russia's latest reactor design has recently started up at the Novovoronezh site. Rosatom introduces the reactor safety
systems for the WER-1200 unit.
n February 2017 the world's first
I Generation III+ reactor, a VVER-1200
umt was connected to the grid at
Novovoronezh NPP 2 in Russia. In addition to
improved performance and cost efficiency, the
unit fully complies with International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) post-Fukushima
requirements. The Generation III+ design
combines both innovative and proven nuclear
power plant technologies with state-of-the-
art safety systems.
Today, VVER-1200 projects are being
implemented in Turkey, Bangladesh. Finland,
Hungary and Belarus. Ali of these plants have
the following characteristics:
1111 Design power output of 1200MW;
1111 Main equiprnent service life
of 60 years;
!111 Irnproved fue!
management, with
state-of-the-art fuel
cycles.
Ali Russia's Generation III+ WER-1200
power plants are designed to include
protection against severe earthquakes
(intensity 8 and higher on MSK-64), aircraft
irnpacts, external shock waves, tomados and
floods.
Protection against extemal events
An extra-strong containment structure
In assocatmn
RO SATO IV
""
conssting of two protection shells prov1des
resistance to external events.
The outer shell is a reinforced-concrete
structure composed of a cylinder connected
to a hernispherical dome. lt is designed to
provide protection against external events
mcluding aircraft impacts.
The inner shell is made of pre-stressed
reinforced concrete and has a reinforced-
concrete base plate. The mternal surface of
the inner shell is ciad with carbon steel to
ensure tightness.
The contanment design provides
resistance to externa! rnan-indaced and
natural events and prevents direct
impact or damageto interna!
structures and'0quipment.

ROSATOM
The NPP-2006 is designed to withstand
challenging condtions, ncluding:
lill Wnd speeds of up to 68.5m/s at 10m
a~ove ground level
lll! Snow loads of up to 4.3kPa
111 Ar temperatures ranging from -61 C to
+52C
111111 Fiooding to at least 0.5m higher than the
maximum possble fioodng leve! with 1o" I
year probabilty
11 Tornados of up to F3.6 with funne:
rotational speed of up to 95m/s
!lil Externa! shockwaves with bias! pressure of
up to 30kPa
Internal safety systems
Russian-designed power plants with
Generation IIP VVER-1200 reactors include
protection in case of emergencies that may
cause damage to the containment, such as:
!ii a steam explosion in the reactor vessel;
!illi hydrogen detonaton;
11 recriticality of the reactor and corium;
1111 a steam explosion outside of the reactor
vessel;
111! duect heating of the containment:
11 missiles; and
11 the impact of corium on the core catcher
walls and floor.
The safety systems are designed to prevent
or mitigate damage to the reactor and confine
fission products in case of an accident.
Different systems have different functions,
mcludng protection, retention. support and
management.
Overall, nuclear power plant safety is based
on the "defence-in-depth" concept, whch
includes barriers to prevent ionising radiation
and rad1oactive substances from escaping
into the environment, as well as technical
measures to maintain the barriers' efficiency.
The Generation ID+ VVER-1200 nuclear
Technology 1 Focus on Russia -
power plant design includes safety systems
with the following functions:
Reactor emergency shutdown and
maintenance of subcritical conditons:
11 Emergency heat removal from the reactor:
11 Retention of radioactive substances within
the set boundaries;
11 Heat removal from the stored nuclear fue!.
The reliability of the units, as well as their
compliance with post-Fukushima safety
standards, is provided by redundant active
and passive safety systems, the latter of
which require no power sources. The active
safety systems can be operated using
conventional power as well as emergency
power produced by backup diese! generators.
Passve systems that cover all critica! safety
functions llave made it possible to mprove
the quality of nuclear power p!ant safety.
Protection against station blackout
The Fukushima accident happened dueto
the failure of the auxilary power supply
and because it was impossible to use the
emergency power supply after sea water
flooded the emergency diesel generator
compartment. These events resultad in a total
nuclear power plant blackout.
The key safety advantage of the !atest
generation WER-1200 unit constructed
at Novovoronezh NPP 2 is its capability to
maintain safety without operator intervention
virtually indefinitely in the case of a station
blackout and to prevent fue! damage for
at least 24 hours in the event of a blackout
compounded by a loss of coolant accident.
Emergency core cooling system
In the case of an accident with prirnary
coolant leakage under blackout conditons,
the design ensures core cooling with several
systems simultaneously.
The active part of the emergency core
coolng system is designed to maintain the
safe coolant leve! in the reactor core and to
remove the residual heat in the case of the
primary circuit leakage.
Passive core flooding system
The passive core flooding system (shown
on accompanying wallchart) maintains
the coolant leve! required for the reactor
cooling to prevent core damage. The system
is made up of hydraulic accumulators that
Novovoronezh II
iii it'scus on Russia J Tecbnology
can mdependently ensure core cooling for
24-hours in tl1e case of a leakage of any size.
The primary accumulators start feeding
boric acid solution to the core if the pressure
-drops below 5.9MPa. These accumulators
ensure fast core flooding.
Secondary accumulators provide for long-
term maintenance (at least 24 hours) of the
primary coolant leve! required for reliable
heat removal from the core. These
accumulators start to feed boric acid solution
if primary pressure drops below 1.5MPa.
In cases when there is no more water and
the power supply has not been restored, the
design includes additional technical means
to feed the reactor and storage pool. These
pump units are equ1pped with a mobile, air-
cooled diese! generator (water coolant may be
unavailable for the diese! generator) that uses
a fan coolng tower to remove heat.
Steam generator passive heat removal
system (SG PHRS)
Safety systems providing core cooling and
reactor cool-d0\'\111 in an emergency also include
the system for steam generator passive heat
removal Ths system removes heat through a
closed circut without feedwater in the case of
beyond-design basis accidents.
The SG PHRS removes heat from the
core by condensing steam from the steam
generators in a heat exchanger, with
condensate returned to the core. The heat
exchanges are Jocated 40m above ground,
protected by structural steel, which prevents
darnage from floods or other environmental
events (hurricanes, tornados and other
natural disasters). The passive heat removal
system uses air as the ultimate heat sink.
The emergency boratfng system
The emergency borating system is desgned
to bring the reactor into sub-criticality and
reduce the pri.mary circuit pressure in the
case of leakage from the primary circuit to the
secondary circuit.
Passive filtration system
The passive annulus filtration system is
desgned to provide controlled removal of
steam and gas mixture from the annulus in
the case of staton blackout accidents.
The system eliminates any uncontrolled
annulus Jeakage to the environment through
the outer contanment in any cases of the
annulus ventilation failure. If the normal
and emergency power supply fails, a mobile
diese! generator can be used to power the
annulus passive filtration system.
Hydrogen removal system
The hydrogen removal system, shown in
Figure 1, plays a major role in accident
mit1gation. It prevents hydrogen explosion and
any resulting damage to the reactor building.
The hydrogen recombners are installed inside
ROSATOM
Figure 1. The primary containment
contains passive hydrogen recombiners,
preventing hydrogen concentration
increasing to hazardous levels
the piimary containment. These recombiners
prevent hydrogen concentration rising and
possible explosions in all emergency scenarios.
Overpressure protection system
The primary overpressure protection system
is intended to protect the reactor piping and
equipment in case of extreme pressure in the
prmary circuit. This system functons due to
pulse safety devices installed in the bleed line
from the prirnary side to the bubbler.
The secondary overpressure protecton
system is intended to preven:t undue
pressure in steam generators and fresh steam
ppelines in the secondaiy circuit.
Sprinkler svstem
The sprinkler system supplies water to the
annulus to prevent cantainment pressure
rises and drops in caseof an accident. In
normal operation. thesystem removes heat
from the spent fuel pool.
Core catcher
A core catcher pr~:against contamment
damage resu:Jting ftomo:re meltdown. The
core catcher, show'Ri,I'l'igure 2, is Iocated
under the reactor. n ~signed to ensure
containment in~'andprevent radioact1ve
materials from ~- the environment n
the case of severe accidents. The core catcher
weights about 75frtrlllS.
This article ~anoverview of the
( ' ~ -
safety systems of Bussia's latest generation
VVER-1200 reactor design, which has
recently started operaion at Novovoronezh
NPP 2. It not a comPlete list of the systems
intended to prevent any nuclear power
plant failures. However, the Generation III+
design and safety systems exclude both
externa! and nternal events, and prevent
radioactive substances from escaping into t
atmosphere in an emergency. 11!1