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Hot Functional Testing Complete At Finland’s Olkiluoto-3 EPR

By Kamen Kraev
30 May 2018

30 May (NucNet): Hot functional testing has been completed at the Olkiluoto-3 EPR unit under construction in Finland, nuclear operator Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) said in a statement today.

The tests are part of commissioning and took a little over five months to complete, the statement said.

For the hot functional test stage, the systems of Olkiluoto-3, a 1,600-MW Generation III+ pressurised water reactor unit, were tested as a whole, but without the fuel. The temperature and pressure values of the water in the primary circuit were gradually raised to levels reached during actual production operation.

This is the first plant-level test where the nuclear island and the turbine island are operated together.

TVO said more than 200 different tests were carried out at different pressure and temperature levels.

TVO will now start preparations for fuel loading, which marks the beginning of the final stage of the commissioning process, the statement said.

According to earlier statements by TVO, Olkiluoto-3 is scheduled to be connected to the national grid in December 2018, while regular electricity production is expected to start in May 2019.

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