Atomproekt, a sister concern of Russia’s Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, are examining the technical and economic aspects of natural draft and ventilation cooling towers to select the optimum option for Rooppur nuclear power plant.
Atomproekt designers and engineers are designing ventilation cooling towers for the emergency raw cooling water system of the Rooppur plant, which will allow for a considerable reduction in the area covered by cooling equipment and an increase in water cooling efficiency.
Spray ponds are traditionally used in the emergency raw cooling water system.
Ventilation cooling towers are an alternative to natural draft wet cooling towers which have traditionally been used at nuclear plants.
This type of cooling tower has not been used earlier in nuclear power plant turbine condenser cooling systems because more cooling towers with ventilation need to be installed.
This means that more money must be spent on providing energy for fan motors.
But given the conditions in Bangladesh, including high temperatures and humidity levels, the use of this type of cooling tower may be justified.
A cooling tower is an important part of a nuclear power plant’s infrastructure used for cooling water in the plant’s water circulation systems.
Modern natural draft cooling towers are up to 180 meters high and are able to cool up to 170,000 cubic metres of water per hour, according to a Rosatom press release yesterday.
Bangladesh has considered beginning a nuclear power programme for over five decades, and Rooppur, about 200km north of Dhaka, was earmarked for the country’s first plant as long ago as 1963.
Rosatom will build, operate and provide fuel to the plant and take its waste back to Russia regularly.
The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, under the Science and Technology Ministry, will implement the project.
Atomproekt has designed more than 100 cooling towers for power plants in Russia and abroad.
At the moment, their designs are being used in constructing cooling towers at Leningrad 2 nuclear power plant 2 in Russia and at Astravets plant in Belarus.