At the end of 2017, the order book of Atomstroyexport (ASE),
the engineering division of Russian state nuclear
corporation ROSATOM, was more than $92bn, ASE president
Valery Limarenko told Ria Novosti. It is similar to the 2016
level, despite the completion of work at facilities which
have now begun operation.
“This in itself is an achievement, given the current
international political situation,” he said. “Most of the
portfolio is the traditional business for us - the
construction of large nuclear power plants. The contract
last year for two more units in India is a significant
contribution to our portfolio. Taking this into account, the
division's portfolio currently includes 33 power units
abroad.”
However, there are challenges. The amount of work involved
in the contracted portfolio is more than ASE or the industry
as a whole has encountered before. “This is a huge challenge
for us, and in response, the division has launched a
transformation programme aimed at improving the management
system, improving the quality of work from design to
delivery of facilities.” The programme is being implemented
jointly with the industry leadership. “Not everything is
easy, as the changes require considerable effort. But we are
aware of the need for change to fulfil our commitments,”
Limarenko explained.
It is a task which ASE cannot tackle alone, and Rosatom
leadership is also involved. “A large portfolio of projects
requires a large number of specialists of all kinds -
primarily experts in the field of design because the design
work comes first”. There is a shortage of resources.
“However, it's not that we do not have enough people, but
that the requirements related to the quality of projects
have increased substantially, and we need highly skilled
people who are able to do work primarily for European
customers.”
This problem is being approached on several levels. “First,
we must work with our own personnel to improve their skills
- and from unit to unit, they will become more experienced;
second, we need to take people from the market; third, we
must involve young professionals; and finally, we have to
include local subcontractors who will help to adapt our
project documentation to those markets where we are present.”
Concerning procurement and supply of products and services
for projects, Limarenko sees fewer problems because of the
high level of skills and high labour productivity. “We have
been dealing with these things for a long time and coping
with them. We are introducing digital technologies and
believe this will solve the issue of labour resources in
this direction.” The main deficit is in human resources for
project management. “No one prepares such people, and there
are very few in the market… in practice, we are developing
them ourselves.” The growth rate of project teams is
decisive in deciding the number of projects.
As for construction and installation, to avoid an acute
shortage, ASE decided to build only a nuclear island and to
give the rest to local contractors. “Nevertheless, we will
have to double the number of our personnel to ensure the
timely construction of facilities in the next few years.”
Limarenko also spoke about preparations being made to build
Iran’s Bushehr 2. “We consider the safety of the nuclear
facilities being constructed as our priority. To this end, a
complex of complicated technical and design solutions has
been developed and is now being implemented. One of them is
the reinforcement of soils under the main buildings. We use
the most advanced technologies and world experience here.”
He said soil reinforcement was a definite challenge. It was
undertaken first at the site of the Rooppur NPP in
Bangladesh, then at Bushehr and is also planned for the Paks
II in Hungary and possible for El-Dabaa NPP in Egypt.
“Previously this was rarely used in nuclear power
engineering,” he said, “but this method has great prospects
because it increases our ability to build facilities where
it may otherwise be inconvenient."
"There are technologies that can change the conditions of
the site in such a way that it becomes possible to build an
NPP with the specified parameters,” Limarenko said, adding
that Bushehr would not be possible without strengthening the
ground.
“It is gratifying to note that Iranian companies have high
competence in this field. This accounted for the success of
the Iranian contractor in the international open tender for
work to strengthen the soil. We are confident that the
Iranian subcontractor will honourably fulfil the obligations
undertaken and will strengthen the soil in a qualitative and
timely manner."
Limarenko added that the subcontractor has received "good
results" in the pilot area and has already begun to
strengthen the soils under the main buildings of the reactor
compartment of unit 2.
He noted that good progress was also being made at the
Kudankulam NPP in India where construction of units 3 and 4
(phase two) was now well under way. With regard to phase
three (units 5 and 6), the necessary agreements and contract
were signed in 2017 and the implementation stage has begun.
“At the moment, work is underway to release the first
working documentation and preparations for the competitive
procedures for ordering equipment.”
ASE is also in the process of conducting a large-scale
digital transformation programme aimed at switching to fully
digital engineering technologies and developing the Multi-D
platform to enter new markets. “Using the current Multi-D
technology, ASE is taking the next logical step: to
transition from digitisation of individual processes within
the framework of a single Multi-D design technology to a
single digital industrial and technological platform for
managing the construction of both NPPs and any other complex
engineering facilities,” Limarenko explained.
“The architecture of the digital platform and the concept of
data management in engineering processes have already been
developed taking into account the introduction of a single
platform solution, and work has begun on developing a
solution.”
He added that the digital platform Multi-D is already
becoming popular on the market. “We are working on the
possibility of introducing elements of technology in a
number of large companies in the oil and gas industry,
railways and the like. In parallel with Rosatom, ASE is
participating in the programme to create a single digital
product portfolio for the state corporation, which will
include the main modules of the Multi-D technology.”
It is also in demand abroad. Foreign customers for Hanhikivi
1 in Finland, Paks II in Hungary, El-Dabaa in Egypt, and
Bushehr II in Iran, already prescribe a strict requirement
for models of their nuclear plants with information
technologies that make it possible to work with this model
on the customer's premises. The main contracts include the
development, filing of data and the transfer of an
information management system (Multi-D IMS, Information
Management System) to the customer, as well as ensuring the
work of all project participants can take place in the
common information space, for which the ASE is responsible.
Limarenko said EDF has also expressed interest “in our
comprehensive approach to the management of information
about nuclear power plants throughout the life cycle, using
the information model of the facility and the methodology
for managing the configuration of the station, worked out in
the Multi-D IMS tool”. EDF is currently using the Multi-D
system at one nuclear unit as a pilot project.
Source: “Nuclear Engineering International” Magazine