Freight water terminal located at Padma river became fully operational on Rooppur NPP construction site in Bangladesh (General Contractor — JSC “Atomstroyexport”, a company of Rosatom Engineering Division). The port is intended for receiving various process equipment for the construction and further operation of Nuclear Power Plant, including the delivery of fresh fuel and removal of spent fuel.
The port on Padma river is operating normally, receiving both construction cargo and process equipment. “Main components of the Reactor Compartment of Unit 1 i.e. VVER-1200 reactor pressure vessel, 4 Steam Generators and polar crane will be delivered to the construction site this year through this cargo terminal,” said Mr. S. G. Lastochkin, Vice President and Director of the Rooppur NPP construction Project.
Transportation of large oversized cargo for the Nuclear Power Plant under construction in Bangladesh will be carried out by sea from St. Petersburg and Novorossiysk to the Bangladeshi port of Mongla. From there, the construction materials and equipment will be placed on the river vessels and transported along the Padma river to the freight terminal located at NPP construction site.
It took 1.5 years to construct the freight cargo terminal on Padma river. It is a berthing structure of the bulwark type made of pipe piles (piles made of a single pipe with locks welded to it) with a diameter of 1420×16 mm. The length of pipes is 37.55 m The volume of back filling was 660 thous.m3. Cranes with a capacity of 250 tons, vibratory loaders and hydraulic hammers were used for the construction of the mooring wall.
The size of the port is 150 by 350 meters. The port is built taking into account 10 m difference in river water level at various seasons of the year. Even during the period of maximum water drop in Padma river, the water depth at the mooring wall will be at least 3.5 meters allowing to unload the cargo all year round. During the” full water ” period, the cargo terminal will be able to receive even oversized vessels.
Currently, the port is equipped with 2 cranes with a capacity of 63 tons. It is planned to install two more Liebherr heavy cranes with a capacity of 308 tons.
Specific works on shore soil consolidation, compaction of the bottom of the riverbed, filling the Padma river channel for the length of more than a kilometer long and digging of the new river channel for the length of 1.4 km, width of 176 m , depth of 5 m were performed in the framework of large-scale hydro-technical works at Rooppur NPP. The volume of removed soil was about 1.4 million m3.
Eight meter high protective dam with a length of 3.5 kilometers was built and a system for automatic monitoring of its condition was installed.
Hydro-technical works were complicated due to natural conditions, including seasonal changes in the width of the riverbed by 80 – 120 meters, 10 m rise of the water level in the Padma river during monsoon period and high speed of the river flow reaching 6-7 m/sec.