The relocation of equipment to Seversk for the Breakthrough project is in full swing. In early August, a 98-tonne steam turbine rotor and a 245-tonne generator stator arrived from St. Petersburg by water — rivers, canals, lakes and the Northern Sea Route — at the site of the fourth-generation power complex. A generator rotor for the unit with the innovative BREST-OD-300 fast neutron reactor with lead coolant was sent by rail.
A reactor of large dimensions
BREST-OD-300 is arranged on an integral principle: the vessel contains all components ensuring stable controlled chain reaction: the active zone, the primary circuit with lead coolant, steam generators and emergency cooling systems. Working areas in contact with the lead coolant reach 450 °C. The reactor vessel diameter is 26 metres, height 16 metres, and the total mass of the vessel shell metal structures reaches 2,300 tonnes.
Components are shipped by manufacturers in parts. The largest vessel shells were sent to the Tomsk region from the Atommash plant in Volgodonsk and the Izhora plant in St. Petersburg. From Volgodonsk, a barge with the central cavity shell and the inner basket casing reached St. Petersburg in three weeks via rivers, canals and lakes, where four peripheral cavity shells were added — each weighing up to 235 tonnes, up to 400 tonnes with packaging.
A special transport operation was developed for delivery to the river berth in St. Petersburg: roads were closed at night in both directions, traffic lights removed, and power line and railway crossing contact wires raised by cranes. The cargo had to pass the crossings quickly to restore infrastructure within the railway window. Factory gate openings were widened, and the FESCO group provided a transport module to lift the shells from assembly stands and move them out of the workshop. The shells were transported lying down, but even so their height was 7 metres, and longitudinal dimensions with packaging were 15 by 10 metres.
From St. Petersburg, the cargo followed the same route as the rotor and stator: along the Northern Sea Route on FESCO vessels, then by barge along rivers and canals to the river port of Seversk. From there, special vehicles will deliver it to the Siberian Chemical Combine.