Krško Nuclear Power Plant: Geotechnical Instrumentation for Krsko Project
Located in Vrbina in the Municipality of Krško, Slovenia, the Krško Nuclear Power Plant became operational in 1983. This nuclear power plant was built as a joint venture between the two former states, Slovenia and Croatia. At that time both of these countries were part of Yugoslavia.
The Krško Nuclear Power Plant is co-owned by the Slovenian state-owned company called Gen-Energija and the Croatian state-owned company known as Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP). This plant was connected to the power grid in 1981 but became commercially operational after two years, 1983.
The significance of the Krško Nuclear Power Plant can be grasped by the fact that this plant provides more than one-quarter of Slovenia’s power and 15% of Croatia’s power. Let’s dig deeper to understand the project and the instrumentation services that were offered by the world leaders in the geotech industry, Encardio-Rite.
Project Overview
The Krško Nuclear Power Plant is a 2-loop Westinghouse pressurized water reactor, with a rated thermal capacity of 1,994 thermal megawatts (MWt) and 696 megawatts-electric (MWe). The power plant runs on enriched, fuel mass, demineralized water as the moderator, and has 36 bundles of 20 control rods. It has a sister power plant called Angra I which is located in Brazil.
To regulate the power, each control rod is made of silver, indium, and cadmium alloys. Generally, all nuclear power stations practice the same type of storing nuclear waste, and Krsko Nuclear Plant practiced the same. The high-level of nuclear waste is stored in the spent fuel pool.
Instrumentation Offered
With over 56 years of experience and innovation in the geotechnical industry, Encardio-Rite has emerged as one of the biggest world leaders. With their immaculate reputation and marketing associate, they were awarded the opportunity to work on the Krsko Nuclear Plant.
Through the marketing associate in the region, Encardio-Rite has been awarded to provide various geotechnical instruments to the site. These geotechnical instruments included:
Anchor bolt load cells
Anchor bolt load cells, also known as centre hole load cells, are used in various ways depending on their application. It is extensively used in determining the load in rock bolts, tiebacks, foundation anchors, cables, or struts. In Nuclear pwper plants, these load cells are generally used for monitoring the variations in the tension in the prestressing tendons used for stabilizing the foundation of the reactor.
Sister Bars
Encardio-Rite is known for manufacturing and supplying precisely-engineered instruments. Our Models EDS-12V/EDS-12V-EX vibrating wire sister bar strain gage, also known as rebar strain gage, are specially designed for embedment in concrete structures. They are ideal for strain measurement in various structures like piles, bridge abutments dams, foundations, etc. To determibe the temperature at the installation location, each sister bar has an inbuilt thermistor.
In Nuclear power plants, these are embedded to detect local distortions in containment, dome and raft during construction as well as during operation. The sister bars are also used to detect tendon …[Continue reading]
