Major contract to Uddcomb Engineering AB
Wednesday 24 January 2007
Through our mother company AREVA NP, Uddcomb Engineering signed on December 7th 2006 a contract with Ringhals AB covering supply of new modernised steam generators and PRZ to Ringhals unit 4. The scope of supply includes also performing the replacement and the related engineering activities. Out of the total 1,7 billion SEK, Uddcomb Engineering part will be ca 200 million SEK. The French entity of AREVA NP acts as the main contractor, with the subsidiaries in Germany (AREVA NP GmbH) and Sweden (Uddcomb Engineering AB) as major subcontractors. This contract is the biggest so far won by Uddcomb Engineering.¨
Unit 4 has three steam generators, in which the heat generated by the reactor is transformed to steam for driving the turbines and the generator producing electrical power. Each steam generator is 22 meters high and has a weight of 360 tons. A temporary opening in the meter thick reactor containment concrete wall will be made, and a special arrangement of lifting jigs and cranes for the handling applied. Even with components of this size, millimetre precision is necessary in the installation activities. Manufacturing of the components will be performed in AREVA workshops in France.
The project will run until 2011 and includes also analyses and additional plant modifications necessary to allow an increased thermal power. A number of the necessary system modifications, e.g. modification of big valves, will be performed by Uddcomb Engineering.
Similar replacement of steam generators have been performed in several nuclear plants over the world. This project in Ringhals will however be the first time to replace simultaneously also the pressurizer, which is another heavy and large component with roughly 80 affected pipe connections to it.
Ringhals performed already replacement of steam generators in unit 2 (1989) and unit 3 (1995). AREVA NP was the main contractor in both these occasions.