Can Egypt share the Construction of Power

Reactors as Korea ?

Dr. Yousry Abushady Former Senior IAEA expert and

Head of SG operation Section , Member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign

Affairs, Visiting Prof. and Supervisor of B.Sc. Project of NED, Alexandria University

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South Korea Experience• 22 NPPs connected to the grid (18 PWRs + 4 Candu) + 4 UC + 2 Planned Started strong Nuclear Power Program in the 1970’s with first PWR connected to the grid in 1977.

• S. Korea cooperated with nuclear companies from US, Canada and France as main contractors, first with turnkey contracts followed by joint venture then S.Korea company (KEPCO) became the main national and international contractor.

• S.Korea introduced changes to the original PWR design and became the designer for the PWRs types OPR-1000 and the well known type the APR-1400 type (with 8 units planned and UC including 4 units in the UAE).

• Heavy industry in S.Korea became the main supplier of major components of NPPs (particularly the Pressure Vessel and the Steam Generators).

• The electricity share of NPPs last twenty years varies from 30 to 50%.

• Although S.Korea does not have a strong old research program or Uranium enrichment facilities, they have two large scale fuel fabrication plants (one for PWR fuel assemblies and one for CANDU fuel bundles).

• The strong and rapid industrial development in the country helps strongly in building their strong nuclear industrial capabilities.

كم 2.2

350m

Ulchin 6 NPPsSouth Korea

Total used area 1 km square+ Auxiliaries

Hot leg to cold leg 1.9 km

Cold leg (In-take)

Hot leg

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Can Egypt share the Construction of Power Reactors as Korea ?

Before the Answer, let us clarify the meaning of Share, as certainly Egypt can share the conventional civil construction as excavation of the site, main and auxiliary buildings and simple other activities. In fact the national share of up to 20%

is expected to be in the coming tender .

But the real question is, can Egypt share the manufacture of main nuclear and conventional components without

adequate previous experience ?That mean to increase the contract share limit to say 50% for

the first unit to almost 100% of the fourth unit?

Let us first list the main components of the Nuclear and Conventional Islands of a the type expected for Egypt, mainly the PWR.

Pressurized Water Reactor Design

Nuclear Island

Conventional Island

Nuclear Island Components(NSSS Nuclear Steam Supply System)

-Components subject to radiation-Main Reactor building with main components (reactor Pressure Vessel, steam generators, primary cooling system, pressurizer, main piping / valves, nuclear fuel / storage, reactor control elements rods/soluble boron and direct connected facilities)-Control room-Main ventillation / stack-Emergency Cooling System (in case of accident)-Etc..

Conventional Island Components-Components not subject to elevated radiation-Components similar to conventional thermal power plant-Excavation of the site- Construction of Buildings / roads -Secondary and third cooling loops-Cooling Towers-Offshore and Onshore pipelines (In-take / discharge of last water cooling loop to sea or river)-Turbo-Generators-Condensers-Feed water heaters (FWHs)-Pumps-Stand-by Diesel units-Piping / valves / tanks (soluble boron, distilled water, chemicals, diesel fuel, etc.)-Conventional storage for tools and non-nuclear material-Etc..

An LWR Open Core Loading

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What is the current reactor project initiated as a B.Sc. Project at Alexandria University

•The project is first to select the most logistic options of PWR types for Egypt, to cover standard details of the selected options, • To perform different types of calculations (neutronics, thermal-hydraulic, safety, environmental impact during normal operation and at different types of accidents, and others) to confirm the standard design.

Following this stage, two models of a smaller scale of similar design features of the selected two PWR types, are designed. Calculations performed mainly to confirm the criticality of different types of fuel material and enrichment.

Then the most interesting stage of the project is to manufacture the models as a real small scale power reactor with the help of national industry. The small reactor model acts as a simulator to a NPP, and if permitted can be a Subcritical Assembly.

The Goals of this project are: Study, Research, TrainingAnd to Check National Industry Capability for NPP components

Egypt B.Sc. Nuclear Reactor Project

APR-1400 Standard Nuclear Reactor of S. Korea

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Reactor Core baffle for APR-1400 Model

First trials of the baffle with core grid, baffleplate and core barrelReal manufactured baffle

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Reactor Model Design made in Egypt

Reactor Dome

Ring with main Bolts

Inlet Nozzle -Cold Leg

Upper core Barrel

Outlet Nozzle-Hot Leg

Pressure Vessel Layers (Carbon steel blanket with SS)Core BaffleLower Core Barrel Thermal ShieldFuel Assembly (No U)Control rods with Spider, Guide Tube, ServomotorsCore lower grid

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Can this Model of a small power reactor operates and generates electricity ?

Only after fulfilling different conditions as:

Complete all components of the Nuclear and Conventional Islands of the plant

Successful tests performed , e.g. Leakage test, pressure test, control mechanism test, ..etc…

Positive results of standard QC and QA of the final product

Confirmation of Standard Safety design aspects, with approval of the design

Availability of fuel material and some other special material

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Now back to the original question;

Can Egypt Share (and later be the main contractor for) the Construction of Power Reactors as Korea?

The Answer is

Yes

BUT ?