About 4000 cubic metres of concrete were used to complete the dome of the outer containment of the first unit at Kursk II nuclear power plant in Russia.
(Image: Rosatom)
The height of the completed outer containment is 65.4 metres, with a diameter of 26.9 metres and walls which are 1.5 metres thick. The construction work took more than 200 days, Rosatom said.
Andrey Osharin, First Deputy Director for the Construction of New Units, said it was "the final stage in the construction of one of the physical barriers of the nuclear power plant's defence in depth".
He added: "We used self-compacting concrete capable of spreading under the influence of gravity, filling the form and achieving full compaction even in heavily reinforced structures. The mixture provides fast laying, speeds up construction time and is evenly distributed in the reinforced concrete structure."
The outer dome was installed in position in January this year. The inner containment was completed in October last year. The double containment system is used for VVER-1200 and VVER-TOI reactors, as part of safety measures.
Kursk II is a new nuclear power plant in western Russia, about 60 kilometres (37.5 miles) from the Ukraine border, that will feature two VVER-TOI reactors, the latest version of Russia's large light-water designs. They have upgraded pressure vessels and a higher power rating of 3300 MWt that enables them to generate 1300 MWe gross.
Construction of the first unit began in 2018, its polar crane was installed in October 2021 and the reactor vessel in June 2022.
