Electromechanical design of Angra III
On September 14, IDOM signed the contract, together with two other local Brazilian partners, with the client ELETROBRAS ELETRONUCLEAR (ETN), for the completion of the Electromechanical design of the third Reactor of the only Nuclear Power Plant currently operating in Brazil.
ETN (a public company owned by the Federal Government) owns and operates the two reactors currently in operation at the Almirante Álvaro Alberto Nuclear Power Plant (CNAAA) in the municipality of Angra dos Reis in the state of Rio de Janeiro and will operate the third reactor currently under construction (also at the same site) scheduled to come on stream in early 2028.
CNAAA’s second and third reactors are twins and were designed during the 1980s, when the construction of two SIEMENS/KWU reactors was foreseen. Due to different reasons, the design and construction suffered several stoppages until 2001, when the construction and operation of the second reactor (the one known as Angra I) was completed and the design and construction of the planned third reactor was put on hold. In 2010, the project for the third reactor (Angra III) was resumed, the design and construction of which was carried out between 2010 and 2015, the year in which it was decided to stop the project again due to economic problems (construction at the site is 50% complete, engineering and design at around 70% and equipment procurement at around 45%).
Over the last few years, different analyses have been carried out (by ETN) to assess the advisability of completing the project and the final decision was taken to complete it, in order to cover the energy supply needs described in the latest energy plan designed by the Brazilian government.
In this context of the continuation of the construction of the third reactor of the Almirante Álvaro Alberto Power Plant, IDOM, together with two other local companies, has won the contract for the completion of the electromechanical design.
IDOM is participating in a consortium with two Brazilian engineering companies with over 50 years of history, each of them developing projects in different engineering areas: Infrastructures, Hydraulics, Manufacturing, etc. The scope of services includes the entire piping, support and HVAC design of the Nuclear Power Plant (revision of the current design and preparation of all the remaining engineering design) as well as a complete 3D model of the entire facility. IDOM’s scope involves the technical responsibility for all the flexibility calculations to be developed, as well as the design of the entire 3D model. The entire project foresees the participation of around 100 people (between engineers, designers, modellers and support staff) where the IDOM team will be involved for an estimated period of 2 years. This project is expected to continue during the implementation phase of all these systems, which is planned for mid-2024 onwards. Furthermore, the Brazilian government, in its latest energy plan 2020-2050, foresees the construction of between 6 and 8 new reactors, which represents a challenge of high technical and economic value in which IDOM presents itself as a recognised engineering company, with prestige and experience to work on these new projects.
