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Major Modifications Plannedfor Daya BayChina’s Guangdong Nuclear PowerJoint Venture Co, (GNPJVC)and Framatome ANP signed an orderfor a first batch of seven modificationsto be made during the first ten-yearoutage at Daya Bay in October 2004.A safety review is currently beingcarried out by GNPVC working withEDF, based on French nuclear safetyguidelines. Anticipating the conclusionsof this review, GNPJVC decided toimplement this first batch ofmodifications during the first 10-yearoutage, according to its statedobjectives;• to improve unit safety (protectionagainst slow dilution of boratedwater, prevention of the risk ofcore dewatering during shutdown,improvement of third-barrierintegrity, fire detection in theprimary coolant pump rooms, etc.)• to improve unit performance byreducing the length of unit outagesFurther Safety Increaseat Kozloduy Units 3 and 4The European ConsortiumKozloduy (ECK), comprised ofFramatome ANP and the Russiancompany Atomstroyexport wasawarded additional safety upgrading ofthe Bulgarian VVER-440/230 nuclearpower plant units Kozloduy 3 and 4.The contract covers several safetyrelated measures and is part of KozloduyUnits 3 and 4 on-going modernizationprogram. Framatome ANP will retrofita confinement leakage control andinstall a new venting system for theretention and recirculation of airborneradioactivity to the confinement.In addition, a hydrogen monitoringsystem as well as passive auto-catalyticrecombiners will be installed forcatalytic oxidation of hydrogen,Daya Bay during an outage(improvement of electricity supplyduring shutdown)• to solve problems of equipmentobsolescence and aging (replacementof reactor trip breakers and steamgenerator blow down system).This turnkey order covers studies,equipment supply, modificationcompletion and performing requalificationtests and, like all work inChina, involves the Chinese FramatomeANP subcontractors.thereby preventing the formation ofan inflammable gas mixture withinthe reactor confinement. The projectstarted in August 2003 and is expectedto be finished at the end of 2004.Atomstroyexport will conduct a studyof the reduction of pressure and theextension of testing intervals for pressuretests of the primary loop cooling system.The implementation of the abovemeasures, which was stipulated by theBulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency(NRA), meets International AtomicEnergy Agency (IAEA) requirementsfor the control of severe accidents inreactors of the VVER-440/230 type.Long-TermRefueling Contractfor Isar 1Framatome ANP will supplyGermany’s Isar 1 Nuclear PowerStation with ATRIUM 10 fuelassemblies beginning in 2006. A contract,signed with E.ON kernkraft GmbH,operator of the 878-MW BWR nuclearpower plant, calls for four reloadsof uranium fuel assemblies of the latestdesign version, the ATRIUM 10 XP(Extended Performance).The modular design of the ATRIUMsystem makes it possible to selectivelyoptimize individual features andmatch them to specific operatorrequirements. In this latest designversion, ATRIUM 10 XP, the numberof part-length fuel rods has beenincreased from eight to ten to furtherenhance fuel utilization andthermohydraulic performance. Thissignificantly contributes to lowerfuel cycle costs and higher levels ofoperating performance.More than 75 percent of all FramatomeANP fuel assemblies deployed today inEuropean BWR plants are ATRIUM 10’s,loaded in a total of 14 nuclear powerplants. By achieving burnup rates of71 MWd/kg U (average for each fuelassembly), the ATRIUM 10 designhas set and held a new world recordfor BWR fuel assemblies since 2001 –thereby demonstrating that the claddingand structural materials used for itare particularly well suited to longcore utilization times and thus for thehighest possible discharge burnup rates.Advanced Nuclear Power N O 9 November 2003 21