A homeland nuclear station equipped with an upgraded high-power computerized WER-TOI unit of a new generation (developed on the basis of a water-moderated reactor) is up for licensing in December 2012. This will make it possible to bring the new generator to the world market as early as 2013, according to Alexander Polushkin, Deputy Director

A nuclear station supplied with two blocks and WER-TOI.

Localization of fuel core meltdown in the WER-TOIproject.

General of Rosenergoatom, who was addressing the Moscow-held ATOM EXPO forum in June of 2012. Details, from the newspaper Strana Rosatom ("Ros-atomland"), the mouthpiece of nuclear power engineers.

The project was developed by the Rosatom corporation and its affiliated bodies. It also involves such companies as Rosenergoatom, Atomenergoproject, a major designer of nuclear stations in Russia, Eastern Europe and in former Soviet republics; the All-Russia Research Institute in charge of the operation of nuclear utilities (Moscow); the Gidropress R&D Office (Podolsk, Moscow Region) as well as the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", among other organizations.

The acronym TOI stands for three fundamental principles materialized in the new nuclear station: type-design, optimization and information.

The nation's first 210 MW water-moderated (water-cooled) reactor was put into service in 1964 at the Novovoronezh atomic station. Then came the WER-

440 and WER-1000 upgraded reactors. Thus one could get down to the job of designing and building a power generator and associated facilities.

In 2006 Rosatom developed the AES-2006 nuclear station with an upgraded 1,150-1,200 MW power generator noted for higher safety and operational characteristics. Another three nuclear stations were developed on its basis--at Voronezh, Leningrad and in the Baltic area. Ilya Kopytov, Atomenergoproject Deputy Director General, says WER-TOI was the next step in the optimization of water-moderated reactors, the WER. Topmost optimization of operational characteristics was combined with other assets offered by up-to-date designing technologies in the unification of basic technical solutions and in cutting considerably the construction time schedules and costs. This project, when implemented, will boost the competitiveness of our nuclear hardware on the world market and expedite the commissioning of nuclear-generating facilities and their operation at home.

Protection of a WER-TOI-equipped nuclear station against external effects.

The technical characteristics of WER-TOI? Its 1,250-1,300 MW power generator is designed for 60 years of service life. Its systems envisage possible emergencies in the wake of natural and technogenic disasters. The reactor is capable of withstanding 8 point earthquakes on the European macroseismic scale (MSK-64) adopted in EU countries since 1996, and it will sustain no damage if hit by a heavy aircraft even if the fuel ignites in the impact. It can resist a 30 kPa Shockwave and a gale-force wind of up to 56 m/s.

The building costs will be 16 to 20 percent lower than those of the first unit of the Novovoronezh AES-2 station equipped with WER-1200. Modular prefab structures could be assembled within 40 months. The overall bill is likewise down thanks to progressive industrial methods of errection and assembly.

The new station will take in a much smaller area, an important consideration for building sites abroad. The configuration of the hermozone (hermetic shielding) of the reactor is customized owing to the transition to the mirror layout of equipment and parallel arrangement of

Science in Russia, No.6, 2012

Modeling of the WER-TOI-equipped nuclear station.

steam generators. The expenditures of concrete are thus cut down by 10 percent, and labor costs, by 20 to 25 percent.

The risk of radiation leaks in WER-TOI is record low due to the latest shielding and other safety technologies. Special mention should be made of a device (trap) localizing fuel core meltdown and, should such emergencies occur, saving the reactor from destruction and preventing radioactive products from escaping. The outfit weighs 150 tons; for this particular project, however, its mass is to be decreased significantly to facilitate the transportation of the trap to an assembly site.

In grave emergencies the reactor's fuel core will keep intact for 72 hours thanks to a combination of different safeguards. In worst-case scenarios when, say, sources of power supply are out, the reactor will be protected reliably--a major consideration if we recall the emergency at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan in 2011.

The body parts of the WER-TOI reactor will be manufactured at the nation's two major engineering plants--at Izhory, St. Petersburg, and in Petrozavodsk, Karelia. Its assembly will bring the number of welds down to four to save the time of erection and assembly works. A new generation of steel will be employed; this grade, developed by the Prometheus Research Institute of Structural Materials in St. Petersburg, lifts all time constraints for the operation of the reactor in terms of the radiation-caused embrittlement of the metal (which turns brittle because of neutron radiation and heat ageing).

WER-TOI, its makers say, is competitive on the world market, and can measure up to the hardware of the US-Japanese Westinghouse (AR-1000 reactor, Areva (EPR-1650) of France and KERSO (APR-1400) of South Korea.

Most likely, Alexander Polushkin told the ATOM-EXPO forum, the pilot project would be realized at the Nizhni Novgorod nuclear project. Two generators, 1,150 MW each, are to be commissioned them between 2019 and 2021. The decision on their construction was made in 2011. The Akkuju nuclear project is slated for construction in Turkey.

The Rosatom strategy is to work for the advancement of WER-TOI on the world energy market.

WER-TOI on the Finish Line--Strana Rosatom (Rosatomland) newspaper, No. 9, 2012