Areva supplies vessel head for nuclear reactor in Belgium
France-based energy generation firm Areva has delivered a new vessel head to Engie Group’s subsidiary, Electrabel, for the 1,047MW Unit 4 of the Doel nuclear power plant in Belgium.
Belgian Electrabel is the majority stakeholder of the facility, which is the second-largest power plant in the country.
Doel nuclear plant has four units, with the first two having generation capacities of 433MW each, and the third and fourth giving outputs of 1,006MW and 1,047MW of atomic energy, respectively.
Areva Reactors and Services Business Group senior executive vice-president Philippe Samama said: “The delivery of the reactor vessel head to the Doel nuclear power plant demonstrates once again Areva’s capacity to manufacture and deliver critical components of the reactor coolant system, in compliance with our customers’ requirements and with quality and safety regulations.”
The vessel head for the fourth nuclear power generating unit at the facility weighs more than 60t, and will be installed during the reactor’s outage maintenance operations.
This steel component was machined by Areva at Le Creusot, and assembled and welded at Chalon / Saint-Marcel.
Control rod drive mechanisms, which enable control and regulation of the nuclear reaction as part of power generation, were welded onto the unit at the facility.
The firm’s services teams from the Chalon unit will be mounting the reactor vessel body after it is loaded into the reactor building. Monitoring and inspection works will be carried out following installation.
Vessel heads for nuclear reactors work as protective barriers to the fuel in their pressure vessel.
