Loviisa nuclear power plant, Finland

Loviisa nuclear power plant, Finland

ŠKODA JS has been a long-term and reliable supplier for the Loviisa nuclear power plant in Finland since 1996, when our company supplied the first 80 pieces of graphite gaskets. To this day, the number of graphite gaskets supplied to Loviisa NPP is around 7,200.

JE Loviisa - reaktorový sál

The year 2001 represented a major milestone, when we supplied the first 104 pairs of fuel assembly components (top and bottom nozzles) as well as 104 shrouds through our customer, then the BNFL Company, today the British company Westinghouse. By 2007, we had delivered a total of 735 pairs of top and bottom nozzles and 741 shrouds. In 2001, we also supplied Loviisa NPP with the MKM-3 control rod drive tension meter.

In 2003, we produced for the Loviisa NPP the EZ 650 flange joint stud tensioner. In 2005, we produced another special tensioner for the flange joints of neutron flux and temperature measurement nozzles. Both tensioners were completely developed by our colleagues at ŠKODA JS, and we managed to replace the originally manual tightening of the said flange joints using torque wrenches with an electronically controlled device, which reduced the labor intensity of flange joint tightening, thus significantly slashing the time required for this task and thus also the power plant’s outage.

In 2020, we delivered a new EZ 650 PRO tightening unit and a modernized MKM-3/M device for the control rod drive torque measurement to FORTUM for the Loviisa NPP in Finland. The electrically controlled tightening unit EZ 650 PRO is designed for tightening and loosening the joint of the control rod drive and the VVER 440 reactor drive housing. Its design allows performing these operations in the upper unit of the shut-down reactor and in the upper unit maintenance station. The control and the parameter setting take place via the touch screen together with the USB interface enabling importing or exporting the sets of working parameters of the tightening unit and exporting the measured values of tightening torques.

Since 2010, we have also been providing the Loviisa NPP with regular supplies of intermediate rods for control rod drives. By 2020, we had produced and delivered a total of 91 of them.

For the Loviisa NPP, ŠKODA JS also supplies a wide variety of spare parts for the reactor control drives, such as coolers, labyrinth shells, special control valves, bearings, toroidal tubes, pole extensions and others.

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The history of the project

graphite gaskets

1996the first delivery for Loviisa NPP – 80 pcs of graphite gaskets

the MKM-3

2001delivery of the MKM-3 control rod drive tension meter

patice pro palivové soubory VVER 440

2001-2007deliveries of fuel assembly components, a total of 735 pairs of top and bottom nozzles and 741 shrouds

utahovací jednotka EZ 650

2003we supplied a tensioner of our own design, EZ 650, for the reactor flange joints

utahovací jednotka EZ 650 TK&KNI

2005we supplied a special tensioner for the flange joints of neutron flux and temperature measurement nozzles (ŠKODA JS’s own design)

vložené tyče pro pohony regulačních orgánů

2010-2020we supplied a total of 91 pcs of intermediate rods for control rod drives

EZ 650 PRO

2020we supplied EZ 650 PRO tightening unit and MKM-3/M torque measuring device

Interesting numbers

7200 pcs of graphite gaskets (1996-2018)
735 pairs of top and bottom nozzles and 741 fuel assembly shrouds (2001-2007)
91 pcs of intermediate rods for control rod drives (2010-2020)
3 reactor flange joint stud tensioners (2003, 2005, 2020)
2 sets of MKM-3 (or MKM-3/M respectively) for control rod torque measurement (2001, 2020)