Prezioso-Linjebygg, one of the services subsidiaries of the Altrad group, continues the waterproofing work on the reactor building of the Belleville nuclear power plant

Following a very successful composite coating performance during what is generally called an “ASR” shutdown on the Belleville Power Plant Unit 1 at the end of 2018, EDF confirmed its trust in ALTRAD Prezioso-Linjebygg to continue the waterproofing work on the reactor building of the ‘Tranche’ 2 of Belleville.

The reactor buildings of the EDF 1300 MW power plants consist of two concrete enclosures. Over the years, the concrete has aged and, on some sites, may no longer meet the rigidity criteria imposed by the French Nuclear Safety Authority, ASN (leak rate - less than 1.05%).

To extend the life of these plants, it is necessary to make a coating on both sides (intrados and extrados) of the walls of the inner chamber of the reactor, to meet the criterion imposed by the ASN.

The Belleville site has the specificity of needing to apply this coating on a particularly important surface: This is a very first critical step for both EDF and ALTRAD Prezioso-Linjebygg: no one has ever coated, during that kind of shutdown, such a large area (6700m² for the extrados and 1700 m² for the intrados). This requires the mobilisation of more than 500 people on the site!
The shutdown will last less than three months during which teams from the entire ALTRAD group will continuously relay to be able to mount the scaffolding, prepare the concrete and obtain the ideal surface conditions to ensure the coating will perfectly adhere, and then proceed to the composite coating application (which is resistant to 5 bars of pressure).
The mobilisation over these three months is enormous, the working conditions very restrictive (especially in the confined space between the two enclosures for the extrados coating).
This requires all the professionalism, rigor and vigilance of our best companions. The dedicated project team, known as the “POCO team” has worked relentlessly for months for the preparation of this operation. ALTRAD Prezioso-Linjebygg is supported by ALTRAD Comi Service, ALTRAD Poujaud, and ALTRAD PZO Portugal teams, who are loyal partners and complement our resources throughout the operation.