OREANDA-NEWS. Power Machines OJSC and Balakovskaya Nuclear Power Plant, which is a branch of Rosenergoatom Group OJSC, have signed a contract to manufacture and supply a turbogenerator stator with capacity increased up to 1,100 MW. The stator will be produced for reserve stocks of Balakovskaya NPP. The new equipment is to be supplied by the middle of 2015.

New increased capacity stators are supplied in accordance with the next stage of Rosenergoatom's program for the upgrade and service life recovery of generator equipment installed at Russian nuclear power plants in order to increase the interrepair cycles in the conditions of increasing capacity level. The program, which is developed with the participation of Power Machines and scheduled to be completed by 2015, is aimed to ensure reliable operation of turbogenerators in new operating modes till the end of the specified and extended service lives of power units at Russian nuclear power plants.

Power Machines produce similar equipment for Rostovskaya NPP:  stator for the third power unit has been manufactured and installed at the plant and that for the fourth unit is being produced now.

Since 2010 to present Power Machine OJSC has completed works on the turbogenerator rotors upgrade at four power units of Balakovskaya NPP, two units of Kalininskaya NPP as well as at the first unit of Rostovskaya NPP.  As a result of upgrading the capacity of each turbogenerator has been increased from 1,000 to 1,070 MW. Moreover, specialists of Power Machines are carrying out the same works at generators with lower capacity (from 200 to 500 MW), installed at Kurskaya, Leningradskaya, Smolenskaya, Kolskaya and Novovoronezhskaya NPPs. When the works are completed the generators capacity will increase from 500 to 550 MW and from 220 to 250 MW respectively.

In the course of the program implementation the service life of generators, which are produced by Power Machines and operated at NPPs belonging to Rosenergoatom Group OJSC, will grow by 25 years, the interrepair period will be increased up to two years and the period between overhauls will be extended up to six years.  As a result the NPPs equipped with 1,000 MW turbogenerators will have an 18-month MTBR. The main feature of the program is a comprehensive approach that allows power engineering companies and power plants producers to plan their interaction over a longer period.

The implementation of the program will ensure the operational availability of power units at Russian NPPs at a level of the world's best power generation indicators, including cost-efficiency.

Taganrog Boiler-Making Works Krasny Kotelshchik OJSC (main production facility of EMAlliance OJSC which is a member of the Power Machine OJSC power plant production group) also takes part in the upgrade of Balakovskaya NPP by starting to produce the first PN-1200 tube systems for low pressure heaters.

The plant's specialists are going to hand over two tube systems for Balakovskaya nuclear power plant for shipment by the end of December. The other three systems, which are also stipulated by the contract concluded with Rosenergoatom Group in 2012, are to be produced in the beginning of 2014. The new equipment will be installed in the existent enclosures of PN-1200 at Balakovskaya NPP.

Earlier Krasny Kotelshchik produced and supplied similar PN-1200 tube systems for Rostovskaya NPP. Their design feature is an upgraded non-condensable gases extraction device which allows to significantly increase the operational reliability and efficiency of the heater as a whole.