CN Atucha II. Milestone on the way to completion. RPV top closed

After a prolonged interruption of construction work since 2005, the Atucha II nuclear generating unit is now being completed and is to start operation in the autumn of 2011. Closing the top of the reactor pressure vessel marks another important milestone on the way to commissioning. Like the Atucha I nuclear generating unit successfully operated on the same site since 1974, the plant is a pressure vessel heavy water reactor, a reactor line developed by Siemens on the basis of the company's light water reactor (LWR) technology. Atucha II has been designed for a power of 745 MWe while Atucha I feeds 345 MWe into the power grid. The Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power station is the technical reference plant for Atucha II, which it also is for the German convoy plants of Emsland, Isar 2, and Neckarwestheim II. Consequently, the basic safety design of Atucha II corresponds to that of the convoy plants, of course with adaptations specific to the type of reactor and to plant requirements. (orig.)