Hot Functional Testing Begin at Finnish Nuclear Power Plant's Reactor

Nuclear Power Industry

WNN reports that Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) announced that hot functional tests have started at the first-of-a-kind EPR unit at Olkiluoto, Finland These key pre-operational tests ensure coolant circuits and nuclear safety systems are functioning properly before fuel is loaded.  TVO said it expects the tests - which aim to simulate the temperatures and pressures which the reactor's systems will be subjected to during normal operation - to take several months.

"This is the first plant-level test where the nuclear island and the turbine island are operated together as a whole," TVO noted. "Several different tests at different pressure levels will be carried out during this stage. The water temperature is raised utilising the thermal energy produced by the reactor coolant pumps."Cold functional tests - which are carried out to confirm whether components and systems important to safety are properly installed and ready to operate in a cold condition - began at Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) in June and took about four weeks to complete. The main purpose of these tests is to verify the leak-tightness of the primary circuit.

"After successful completion of the hot functional tests, it will be possible to obtain an operating licence for OL3 and continue the project towards nuclear commissioning," the company said. The consortium of Areva GmbH, Areva NP SAS and Siemens AG began construction of Olkiluoto 3 in 2005 under a turnkey contract signed with TVO in late 2003. Completion of the 1600 MWe reactor was originally scheduled for 2009, but the project has suffered various delays and setbacks. In October, the schedule for OL3 commencing regular electricity production was again revised from the end of 2018 to May 2019.

No parts have been used in the Olkiluoto EPR that "could endanger the safety of the plant due to uncertainties about their manufacturing history", the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (Stuk) has concluded. In May 2016, the French nuclear safety regulator said an ongoing quality audit at Areva's Le Creusot forge - which Areva bought in 2006 - had identified "irregularities" in paperwork on some 400 plant components produced there since 1965.