Russian architect-engineer AtomEnergoProekt (AEP) has started work to install the reactor pressure vessel of the second unit of the Novovoronezh II nuclear power plant. The unit is also known as Novovoronezh 7.

AEP said on 20 February that installation of the 330-tonne RPV is carried out in two stages. In the first, the RPV was raised with a DEMAG crane to the transport portal at a height of 26.3 metres and moved into the pressurized zone. DEMAG cranes are made by Cleveland, Ohio-headquartered Terex MHPS Corp.

In the second phase, which is scheduled for early March, the RPV will be installed with the help of a polar crane that is currently undergoing a registration procedure after having completed tests two weeks ago. The 360-tonne crane is located under the containment dome on a trolley that moves 360° on a circular rail over the reactor shaft.

Novovoronezh II is the lead project for the deployment of the AES-2006 design incorporating a Gidropress-designed pressurized water reactor, an evolutionary development from the VVER-1000. Construction of Novovoronezh II units 1 and 2, also known as Novovoronezh units 6 and 7, began in June 2008 and July 2009, respectively. The original Novovoronezh site nearby already hosts three operating reactors and two that are being decommissioned.

Rosenergoatom, the nuclear power plant operating subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said on 29 January it had commissioned the turbine building of unit 6 as it prepares the unit for first criticality. Delivery of nuclear fuel to the site is scheduled for the second quarter of this year, hot and cold testing of the reactor is scheduled for May, with start-up to follow later this year. Unit 7 is expected to be commissioned in 2017.