Presented by V.P. DYADUS
Head of Main Department of Heavy Machine Building
Ministry of Industrial Policy, Ukraine

At the present time, one of the main tasks for the short term in power machine building is development Ukraine’s capacity to produce a broad range of state-of-the-art equipment for nuclear industry.

One of the factors characteristic of the current situation in Ukraine is lack of production of significant part of basic and auxiliary equipment for NPPs that was traditionally produced in other CIS countries, while Ukraine is possessed of a great scientific and industrial potential capable of developing and manufacturing of a considerable part of necessary equipment.

There are 15 power units under operation at Ukraine’s 5 NPPs at the moment. The units were commissioned during 1978-90, have operated for a long time, and need reconstruction to meet regulatory requirements for safety provisions and reliability improvements. In 2000, the service life of basic equipment for most of the power units will be exhausted. It is also aggravated by an increased load upon NPPs turned during last few winters, when nuclear share reached 50 %, while its optimum, by data from power experts, is no more than 40 %.

Power machine building enterprises in Ukraine offer a considerable industrial, scientific and technical as well as staff potential. These enterprises and scientific institutions are as follows: TurboAtom, ElectroTyazhMash (electrical heavy machine building), Kharkiv Electrical and Mechanical Plant, Monolit, UkrHydroProject, Kharkiv TeploEnergoProjekt (heat and power design), Zaporizhya Transformer Plant, Sumy Frunze Association, Sumy NasosEnergoMash (pump power machine building), Mykolaiv associations such as MashProjekt and Zarya, etc. They constitute a powerful power machine building complex capable to deal with almost all of Ukraine’s power issues, export included. However, currently the conditions were established in Ukraine which in no way promote increasing export, currency influx, mastering of the world’s energy markets (first of all, those China, India, Mexico, Brazil, Middle East, CIS countries).

Enterprises belonging to the industry of Ukrainian power machine building and involved in supplies of equipment to erect and upgrade nuclear power plants, produce the basic equipment as follows:

Scientific & Industrial Association TurboAtom, Kharkiv is one of the most powerful worldwide enterprises to produce equipment for the power industry. It was founded in 1934, and has since gained a great experience as to erection of thermal, hydro and nuclear power plants.

Since start of production the Association has manufactured 164 turbines of different output for 24 nuclear power plants, including 40 for 7 NPPs abroad (including outside the ex-USSR). 4 NPPs in Ukraine (Zaporizhya, South Ukraine, Chornobyl and Rivne) are equipped with 18 turbines of SIA TurboAtom of capacity 220, 500, 1000 and 1100 MW.

Engineering capabilities of this enterprise allow to manufacture some 16 to 20 steam turbines a year with a total output of 7 million kW along with some 12-15 hydroturbines of 2.1 million kW total capacity.

Turbines produced at this enterprise are under reliable operation at power plants in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Nuclear power plants (NPP) Kozloduy (Bulgaria), Paks (Hungary), Loviisa (Finland), thermal power plants (TPP) Maritsa-East (Bulgaria), Dunamenty (Hungary), Parochel (Romania), Fujin and Nankin (China) are equipped with turbines from TurboAtom. 94 turbines of 17,130 million kW total capacity were produced for export to 23 power plants, including as follows:

• for 7 NPPs: 40 turbines of 10,830 million kW total capacity;
• for 16 TPPs: 54 turbines of 6,300 million kW total capacity.

Steam turbines of SIA TurboAtom are of modern technical level and by a number of their performance indicators superior to those of foreign make by companies such as Siemens, Westinghouse, ABB, Jack Alsthom.

Lastly, the Association developed new state-of-the-art steam turbines to upgrade power units and replace turbine sets that exhausted their service lives.

Since 1954 up the present, Industrial Association ElectroTyazhMash, Kharkiv manufactured 647 turbine generators of 12, 30, 200, 300, 500 kW capacity. This production meets the world’s accepted standards, is exported into more than 30 countries.

To provide for reconstruction and replacement of equipment at power plants under operation in Ukraine and improve efficiency by 10 to 12 % the Association masters production of new generation air-cooled turbine generators of 120, 160, 220 and 320 MW capacity.

The Association is possessed of appropriate scientific and technical as well as productive capabilities to develop and produce generators of different output for NPPs as well as auxiliary generators, synchronous and asynchronous engines to drive NPP mechanisms while meting requirements on behalf of the Customer.

Sumy M.V. Frunze Machine Building Scientific and Industrial Association is the basic supplier of special pumping equipment for all the NPP power units in Ukraine. These are manufactured at specialized shops equipped with the most state-of-the-art facilities and having powerful testing base. The equipment is manufactured in full compliance with the requirements and rules of the Regulatory Authority of Ukraine and offers a service life of 30 years. It is possible to describe as unique pumping equipment such items as main circulation pumps MCP- 195M of 8000 kW capacity and coolant flow rate of 20,000 m³/h used at VVER-1000 power units.

Also, the enterprise produces a broad range of pumps for the 2nd circuit of NPPs (feeding, condensing, circulation to cool reactors, etc.).

Nuclear power plants under operation in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Cuba, Slovakia are equipped with pumping equipment manufactured in Sumy.

Practically, transformer equipment produced by Joint-Stock Company ZaporizhTransformator is installed at all the thermal and nuclear power plants in Ukraine. This enterprise can offer goods of significantly improved electrical performance, reliability, and quality meeting the ISO 90001 requirements.

According to the specialization existed in the former USSR, machine builders in Ukraine previously produced 15 to 20 % of special equipment for NPPs.

Review of Ukrainian machine builders capabilities in principle shows that it is possible to arrange for relatively small costs a modern production of considerable number of auxiliary turbine equipment, heaters of different intent, equipment and appliances for automated systems of process control (ASPC), low and high pressure valves, pumping and electrical equipment.

Besides, a considerable number of heat exchange and water-chemical equipment, piping, drives, radiation protection items is simple enough for fabrication, and development of working documentation to produce them does not require much research or detailed developments to be performed. That is why the Program on Development and Production of Machines and Equipment for Nuclear Industry in Ukraine developed by experts at the Ministries of Industrial Policy and Energy of Ukraine defined as the main priority development and arrangement production of equipment needed to save current on-site capacities, provide for their technical re-equipment and reconstruction.

Due to lack of funding both from budget and Customer the mentioned Program has been implemented only in part, mainly as regards valves and pumping equipment, the capabilities of the machine building complex being used within 10 %.

Along with that, implementing the Program allowed to create additional production capacities in Ukraine’s power machine building complex via pioneer developments of basic equipment as follows:

At the same time, experts from the main scientific organization on power machine building attached to the Ministry concluded that mastering production of certain kinds of equipment for the 1st circuit of NPPs (VVER-1000 reactors, steam generators PGV-1000V, pressure condensers, main circulation loops D_N 850 mm piping ) is not justified in economic terms due to insufficient demand (6 sets) .

1. Provision of nuclear fuel. This problem should be solved by establishing a joint Ukrainian-Russian-Kazakh venture on nuclear fuel fabrication (zirconium tubes from Ukraine, inventory from Kazakhstan, fuel assemblies from Russia).
2. Removal of spent fuel. There is quite a tense situation on-sites as to shortage of casks for spent fuel transportation. Russian companies utilizing waste insist that these casks should be manufactured by Russian enterprises (AtomMash, Volgodonsk etc.) At the same time, AzovMash Concern, Mariupol and Public Corporation NKMZ, Kramators’k are prepared to start with fabrication and supply of various cask modifications, including diverse car-containers.

Ministry for Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety of Ukraine issued a license to R&D Institute of Machine Building, Kramators’k on design and production of equipment intended for radwaste management.

3. Valve building. Today only about 10 % of special valves for the NPP primary circuit is manufactured in Ukraine.

The Central Design Office of Valve Building, Kyiv, Public Corporation Arma, Kyiv, IA PivdenMash, Dnipropetrovs’k, and other plants are involved in this work; however, the primary circuit need is yet up to 90 % met by Russian enterprises.

4. Pumping equipment. Around 50 % of needed pumping equipment for the NPP 1st and 2nd circuits is covered by import from Russia and other CIS countries. In Ukraine, the Institute of Pump Building, NasosEnergoMash, Sumy, Sumy Frunze Association, and others are involved in this work. According to the existing Program, by 2000 about 80 % of pumps for NPPs will be produced in Ukraine (provided relevant funding available).
5. Physical protection devices (certified in compliance with the world’s standards)

Only 25-30 % are manufactured in Ukraine. In recent years, Electron, Kyiv, Eastern Mining and Milling Integrated Working Complex, Zhovti Vody, etc. have dealt with development of national devices as appropriate for this purpose, while the rest of demand still comes from Electron, Moscow and other Russian enterprises.

6. Turbine manufacturing

Kharkiv TurboAtom manufactured 164 turbines for 24 NPPs in the former USSR, including 18 for Ukraine (Zaporizhya, South Ukraine, Rivne, Chornobyl).

Practically, turbines are entirely assembled from nationally made constituent articles except blanks for blades (which come from a plant in Saint-Petersburg)

7. Manufacturing of condenser and heat systems for high pressure piping.

By 70 % need for such products is covered by import from Russia (Belgorod, Penza, Chekhov, etc.).

To switch to our own constituent articles, technical documentation is needed along with appropriate experience and certification centers.

Besides, there is no national R&D center on nuclear material science in Ukraine. By experts opinion, R&D Institute of Machine Building (former subsidiary of the Central R&D Institute of Machine Building, Moscow) could become such one, but provided appropriate equipment, staff training and appropriate status from the State Committee for Standards are available.

We are prepared to cooperate with foreign partners alongside all of these directions, including establishment of joint ventures.

By provisional estimations, to resolve the issues mentioned it is necessary to have about 70 million of hryvnya and $150 million by 2003.

All of these matters have been agreed with the Ministry of Energy management.