OREANDA-NEWS. February 27, 2012. Construction of the nuclear island foundation has started on the site of Baltic NPP. Over one day the principal contractor NIAEP and subcontractor Northern Construction Directorate placed 1,800 cubic meters of concrete in the foundation of the Unit 1 safety building. The construction has entered the active phase.

Alexander Chebotarev, the Chief Engineer from the CCD of Rosenergoatom’s Branch, Baltic NPP Construction Directorate, noted that concreting was carried out in accordance with the schedule. “The concreting was preceded by a serious preparatory stage. It was necessary to test availability of concrete mixing plants on the site. Concrete mix delivery and its placement were in accordance with the plan. All these are very important because concreting is a continuous process. All work stages were without disruptions, routinely,” Alexander Chebotarev said.

He noted that each batch of concrete mix intended for placement to form the foundation plate was checked by the construction certification laboratory. In addition, concreting specialists from Russia’s leading institute – B.Ye. Vedeneev VNIIG - were involved for better monitoring of quality. Also, construction monitoring was carried out the staff of the Technical Supervision Division of the customer, the Directorate of Baltic NPP under Construction and the principal contractor NIAEP.

At the present time, construction work on Baltic NPP site is continued to build a rebar cage at the foundation plates of the reactor building and auxiliary building. In the course of this work the builder will install 1,500 tons of rebars, and some 7,500 cubic meters of concrete will be required to build the foundation plates.

To remind, currently about 500 people work on Baltic NPP construction site. Most of them are residents of Kaliningrad Region. In 2012 only Baltic NPP will create 1,000 more new jobs in the region.