la production d'électricité EDF

Construction site highlights - January 2010

On the nuclear island and more specifically inside containment, welding work on the first band of the liner has been completed.

Steam penetration sleeves (pipes that will supply the future steam generators) and equipment access hatch sleeves (the access hatch being used to take bulky equipment into and out of the reactor building) have been fitted. The first elevations of the internal structures have been concreted.

Nuclear island vent and drain pipes (the function of which is to collect effluent) have finished being laid inside containment. The ceiling of the refuelling water storage tank or “IRWST” (containing water for safeguard systems used to cool the building) has been installed.

Inside the fuel building, the first floor assembly has been connected to the external containment structure. The foundation raft of the radioactive waste treatment building has been concreted.

On the conventional island, roofing work in the turbine building has been completed while cladding and glazing work forges ahead. The “ATD” heat exchanger (an innovative EPR system whose function will be to purify main condensate water) has been installed inside the building.

Inside the service tunnels, the first pipes have been laid, starting with the cladding of the first tunnel’s discharge circuit.

On the power transmission deck, work on the main transformer bunkers is being completed. The auxiliary transformer has been completed and preliminary testing has begun. High-voltage cables are being laid between the auxiliary transformer and the electrical building.

Inside the electrical building, the main raceways have been assembled. The low-voltage power supply systems used to energize the auxiliary transformer have been installed and preliminary testing is underway. High-voltage power supply systems have also started being installed.

In the Operational Service Centre, paintwork and the assembly of ventilation ducts are still underway in the basements. The installation of windows, raceways and plumbing has begun on the ground, first and second floors of the building.

The sloped façades on the three towers of the building, which will house the offices of future operations staff, are still being fitted.

As far as the offshore discharge structure is concerned, digging of the tunnel continues at a steady pace. By the end of January, a total length of 500 metres had been dug.

N.B. Owing to poor weather conditions in January, jib cranes were out of action for several days.

Component manufacturing status

The major components of the turbine building (turbine, main generator, heat exchangers, condenser, etc) supplied by Alstom, and of the nuclear steam supply system (reactor vessel, steam generators, primary circuit legs, pressurizer, etc.) supplied by Areva, are in the process of manufacture.
Some of these components’ essential constituent parts have been completed (turbine rotor and stator, reactor vessel shell ring and steam generator wrapper), and will be assembled in 2010.

EPR auxiliary circuit components have also started being manufactured (heat exchangers, storage tanks, pipes). Initial deliveries have taken place.

The main items of lifting and access equipment (reactor building polar crane, personnel access hatch, equipment access hatch, etc.) are also being manufactured, while some have already been installed on the site (turbine building handling cranes).

Latest regulator audits

Two inspections took place in January:

20 January 2010: An inspection was conducted on civil engineering work in the discharge building and pump house. No findings were raised.

27 January 2010: An inspection was conducted on civil engineering work and other work underway in the fuel building. One finding was raised with regard to document inconsistencies.  

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