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Full Steam ahead for Flamanville 3

EPR turbine island construction

POWER

.5#,%!2 0/7%2

&ULL STEAM AHEAD FOR &LAMANVILLE 

%02 TURBINE ISLAND CONSTRUCTION
The 1750 MWe ARABELLE turbine generator is the worlds largest engine. The first such machine in Europe is
currently under construction at EDFs Flamanville 3 site. The turbine island at Flamanville 3 has now
progressed from the manufacturing phase to construction, with the focus currently on site work and
installation of major components.
6INCENT *OURDAIN, Performance & Process Director, and 0HILIPPE (ERBAUT,
Project Director, Flamanville 3, Alstom Power Thermal Products, Nuclear

s Frances first EPR, EDFs 1750

MWe Flamanville 3 unit, currently
under construction on the coast of
Normandy, marks the start of a new
era for the French nuclear programme both in
terms of unit size and technology the EPR
being classified as a Generation III reactor,
which is advanced but also evolutionary.
Similarly, the turbine island is an evolutionary
solution that builds very firmly on experience
amassed with the countrys 58 existing
pressurised water reactors and also with
exported plants. Areva is providing the
Flamanville 3 nuclear steam supply system,
which is designed to provide over 9000 t/h of
saturated steam at a pressure of 75 bar and a
temperature of 290C to the steam turbine.
Alstoms role, under a contract awarded in
September 2006, is to convert this vast quantity
of wet steam into electricity in the most effective
way possible, achieving a thermal cycle
efficiency in excess of 38%. The Alstom scope
of supply includes engineering, manufacturing
and
procurement,
construction
and
commissioning of the steam turbine,
turbogenerator, condenser, moisture separator
reheaters, feedwater heaters, deaerator,
condensate extraction pumps, cooling water
circulating pumps, plus auxiliary equipment such
as the turbine bypass system, compressed air
distribution system and busbars.
Alstom has in fact over the years provided the
steam turbines, turbogenerators, condensers and
moisture separator reheaters for all the French
operating nuclear plants to date, and has also
supplied a large proportion of the other main
equipment, such as circulating water pumps and
condensate extraction pumps, boiler feed water
pumps with associated drives, emergency diesel
generators, etc.
But Flamanville 3, with a turbogenerator rated
at 2000 MVA, represents a significant scaling up
over what has gone before, and indeed when it
enters service, currently expected in 2012, it will
be the worlds largest power generating unit
(although the Taishan 1 and 2 EPRs currently
under construction in China and due to enter
commercial service in 2013 are also based on
Alstom steam turbine technology and might
subsequently take the lead by a short head due to
a slightly higher reactor rating).
Flamanville 3 will incorporate the longest last
stage blade ever made by Alstom.

,OCATION OF THE &LAMANVILLE SITE RECENT PHOTOGRAPH

OF CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY AND PHOTOMONTAGE
SHOWING VISUALISATION OF THE COMPLETED UNIT 
PICTURES COURTESY %$&

Also, in a departure from previous French

PWR practice, it will use vertical moisture
separator reheaters, as specified by EDF in its
request for proposals.

4HE !2!"%,,% TURBINE

The design of the 1750 MWe ARABELLE
steam turbine for Flamanville 3 builds on
experience with EDFs four 1550 MWe
ARABELLE units currently operating in
France. These machines, two each at the Chooz
B and Civaux N4 plants, have been running for
over ten years and already set the record for the
largest steam turbines in service.
The Arabelle concept, initially introduced at
the end of the eighties, was to deliver higher
efficiency, reduced investment costs for the
turbine hall, reduced maintenance, and
maximum reliability. With the support and
encouragement of EDF, ARABELLE was
developed at a time when most turbine

manufacturers were limiting their ambitions in

the face of bleak commercial prospects for
nuclear power.
Unique among large nuclear steam turbines,
the ARABELLE architecture employs single
flow HP and IP sections, contained in a
combined HP/IP casing to reduce overall length
(with, in the case of Flamanville 3, about 1100
MWe produced from a 13 stage rotor weighing
just 140 t, in a HP/IP module weighing around

.5#,%!2 0/7%2

&LAMANVILLE  NUCLEAR STEAM SUPPLY SYSTEM

PLUS TURBINE ISLAND IMAGE COURTESY %$&

4URBINE ISLAND CUTAWAY

#OMPARISON OF !2!"%,,% CONFIGURATION WITH PREVIOUS CONFIGURATION 6ERTICAL -32S ARE

REPRESENTED HERE AS AT &LAMANVILLE BUT PREVIOUS !2!"%,,% PROJECTS HAVE EMPLOYED
HORIZONTAL -32S

!2!"%,,%4CONFIGURATION

-32

(0

)0

,0 

,0 

,0 

600 t). The combined HP/IP casing is similar to

those sometimes used in fossil fired
applications except for its much larger size
(bearing in mind that a saturated nuclear steam
turbine needs to accommodate an inlet volume
flow about five times bigger than a coal unit of
equivalent power because of the much lower
steam pressures and temperatures). In the
ARABELLE concept, the incoming main
steam expands in the single flow HP section and
is then fed to the moisture separator reheaters
(MSRs), where it is superheated in two stages,
using a derivation of the main steam and an
extraction from the HP. The superheated steam
is then expanded in the single flow IP cylinder
of the turbine. This IP section is a key
distinguishing feature of ARABELLE (see
diagram, bottom left).
Previous-generation nuclear steam turbines
typically have a two-flow HP turbine plus two
or three two-flow LP sections, in which the IP
expansion is accommodated. After expansion in
the HP turbine, the steam typically enters the
MSRs, where it is dried and superheated by a
derivation of the main steam and then fed to the
LP turbines for final expansion down to the
condenser pressure. ARABELLE is the only
large nuclear turbine that has a separate single
flow IP section, with the steam flow split for
multiple expansion in the LP sections done at a
pressure about three times lower than previous
generation machines.
The maximal use of single flow expansion,
from 75 bar down to 3 bar, accounting for 60%
of the total expansion, is a major contributor to
the overall high efficiency. Single flow is
inherently highly efficient because of the
reduction in the effect of secondary losses that
develop at blade roots (eg due to turbulence)
and tips (eg due to leakage) in the steam path.
Basically, the significance of border effects
is reduced because a greater proportion of the
expansion is achieved with longer blades,
which have a higher aspect ratio (=
height/width), see diagram below.
ARABELLE now comes in two sizes for
both 50 Hz and 60 Hz grids, a 1700 MWe class
machine and a 1000 MWe version. As well as
being used at Flamanville 3, the 1700 MWe
version is to being deployed at Taishan 1 and
2 in China (the latter employing a shorter last
stage blade, with smaller LP exhaust area,
reflecting warmer average cooling water
temperatures than in Normandy), and is
selected for the EPR projects in the USA,
starting with Calvert Cliffs 3. The 1000 MWe
version has been adopted by China for its
CPR1000 projects (an indigenised version of
0LOT OF STAGE EFFICIENCY VS TURBINE BLADE
ASPECT RATIO
-ULTIPLE FLOWS
(IGH TIP LEAKAGE LOSSES
(IGH ENDWALL LOSSES

&ORMER
CONFIGURATION

-32

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&

,0 

,0 

,0 

3INGLE FLOW
,OW TIP LEAKAGE LOSSES
,OW ENDWALL LOSSES

3TAGE EFFICIENCY

-32

(EIGHT
"LADE ASPECT RATIO
 (EIGHTWIDTH
7IDTH

-32

"LADE ASPECT RATIO

.5#,%!2 0/7%2

,AST STAGE BLADE

3CHEMATIC OF TURBINE ISLAND

the French-supplied Daya Bay 900 MWe

PWRs) under construction at: Ling Ao 3 and 4
(Phase 2); Hongyanhe 1-4; Ningde 1-4;
Fangjiashan 1 and 2; and Fuqing 1-4.

and now made possible by modern

manufacturing techniques.
The Flamanville site is fairly good in terms of
seawater cooling water temperature, with a
resulting condenser pressure of 46 mbar. The
large LP exhaust area at Flamanville is designed
to make maximum use of this by minimising the
velocity of the exhaust steam and thus the kinetic
energy losses. Kinetic energy of the exhaust
steam can represent several percentage points of
turbine power, and its reduction is highly
beneficial to the project.

,AST STAGE BLADE ,3" AND

CONDENSER PRESSURE

-32 AND FEEDWATER HEATING

Also contributing to high efficiency is the large

LP exhaust area, 155 m2 at Flamanville 3, taking
maximum benefit of Alstoms longest ever last
stage blades (1.75 m).
The Alstom LSB design features an integral
snubber to ensure reliability and a curvilinear fir
tree attachment, providing easier access for
inspection.
Thanks to the vibration control provided by
the snubber connection between blades, this
type of blade provides the benefit of a reduced
weight around 80 kg compared with free
standing blades. To achieve the required
stiffness free standing blades may end up
weighing around four times more than this.
With relatively light, integrally snubbered
blades, it is possible to design the bearing
system so that it can withstand the unbalance
created by postulated failure of the LSB.
Meeting this design criterion is not really
feasible with significantly heavier blades.
Aerodynamic design is also optimised and
the last stages benefit from the 3D profiles
developed by advanced computer modelling,

Further significant performance benefits derive

from the use of two-stage moisture separator
reheating, as well as from improvements to the
feedwater heating systems.
With the two-stage moisture separator
reheater, for a given final reheat temperature,
only half the live steam flow is used compared
with a single stage reheater. This replacement
of main steam by already partly expanded HP
extraction steam provides a very valuable cycle
efficiency benefit. As already noted, the MSRs
at Flamanville 3 are arranged vertically, a
departure from previous practice at French
PWRs, but an arrangement already provided on
other units by Alstom, eg in Germany.
The feed heater configuration at Flamanville
3 is upgraded compared with the previous
generation of nuclear plants, and is in line with
best practice today. There are seven stages of
feedwater heating: four LP heaters (fed from
extractions in the LP section, an extraction
from the IP section, and the IP exhaust); the
deaerator (fed from HP exhaust); and two HP
heaters (fed from extractions in the HP section).

#OMPARISON OF !2!"%,,%4-  (0)0 WITH THAT OF PREVIOUS !2!"%,,%4- .  SHOWING EXTRA EXTRACTION ON THE )0

. !2!"%,,%4- SIX EXTRACTIONS

n  (0 EXTRACTIONS   EXHAUST
n  EXTRACTION AT THE )0 EXHAUST
n  ,0 EXTRACTIONS

!2!"%,,%4-  SEVEN EXTRACTIONS

n  (0 EXTRACTIONS   EXHAUST
n  )0 EXTRACTION   EXHAUST
n  ,0 EXTRACTIONS

This is one more stage of reheat than in

previous-generation plants. In addition,
forward recovery pumping of condensate of LP
heaters is used to significantly increase the
plant net output. Both these modifications have
a measurable impact on the plant output.

7ELDED ROTORS
Use of welded rotors, as opposed to mono bloc
solid rotors, is a well established feature of
Alstom turbines (both gas and steam), developed
over the last 80 years.
The rotor is made up of smaller forgings. For
very large rotors as required in nuclear turbines,
it allows better control of material properties.
Because of the reduced stress compared with the
shrunk on disk design, steel with lower yield
strength can be selected allowing better resistance
to stress corrosion cracking while achieving the
properties required for the disks supporting the
last stage blades. Ultra large forgings can be a very
significant bottleneck in the supply chain for
nuclear plant, whereas smaller forgings can be
sourced from a larger number of suppliers.

)MPROVED EASE OF MAINTENANCE

As already noted, the Flamanville turbine
island includes a number of features aimed at
facilitating maintenance. For example, the LP
inner casings are independent of the LP exhaust
hoods, allowing LP turbine assembly to be
independent of the condenser and the shaft-line
to be aligned without exhaust hood
dismantling. In addition having the IP/LP pipe
work below the turbine table improves access
for LP module maintenance.
The separate IP expansion also brings
maintenance benefits.

4HE TURBOGENERATOR
The Flamanville 3 turbogenerator is a GIGATOP
4-pole machine, with hydrogen-cooling of the
stator, rotor and the static parts and water-cooling
of the stator winding. Features and benefits include:
Stainless-steel cooling tubes for direct cooling
of the stator bars. The corrosion resistance of
stainless steel avoids clogging of the cooling
tubes, losses are minimised and efficiency
enhanced. The electrical and cooling circuits
are kept separate, further improving
reliability. Over the past 35 years Alstom
stainless-steel cooling tube technology has
demonstrated excellent reliability in operation.

 Direct hydrogen cooling of the rotor provides a

nearly uniform temperature all along the rotor
body, minimising the risk of thermal unbalance.
Triple-circuit hydrogen sealing system for very
low hydrogen consumption with high and constant
hydrogen purity and generator efficiency (a wellreferenced technology on large fossil fired plants).
Stator end-winding support structure design that
reduces maintenance effort and contributes to high
availability. It can be readily re-tightened during
a major overhaul, facilitating maintenance.
Ease of inspection and maintenance, with inner
components designed to be easily accessible.
The rotor can, for example, be removed,
without disassembling the end casing.
Brushless excitation, further reducing
maintenance requirements and contributing to
compactness. And last but not least,
Ease of transport.

&LAMANVILLE  TURBINE MAIN DATA

)NSTALLED CAPACITY GROSS -7E 
4YPE OF TURBINE

!2!"%,,%

4URBINE ARCHITECTURE

#OMBINED
(0)0 CASING
  DOUBLE
FLOW ,0

4URBINE BLADING TECHNOLOGY

)MPULSE

4URBINE ROTOR TECHNOLOGY

7ELDED

2OTATING SPEED RPM



,AST STAGE BLADE LENGTH MM 

,0 EXHAUST AREA M



-AIN STEAM PRESSURE BAR



-AIN STEAM TEMPERATURE # 

2EHEAT STEAM PRESSURE BAR



2EHEAT STEAM TEMPERATURE # 

#ONDENSER PRESSURE MBAR



-OISTURE SEPARATOR REHEATERS  X VERTICAL

 STAGE
'ENERATOR TYPE AND RATING
-6!

')'!4/0
 POLE 

'ENERATOR COOLING

( AND WATER

'ENERATOR VOLTAGE K6



'ENERATOR POWER FACTOR



#IRCULATING WATER PUMPS

 X 
CONCRETE VOLUTE
#IRCULATING WATER FLOW MS 

0HOTO BY %RIC ,AMPERTI

.5#,%!2 0/7%2

,0 ROTORS DURING
MANUFACTURE AT "ELFORT

#IRCULATING WATER AND CONDENSATE

EXTRACTION PUMPS
The Flamanville 3 design includes 2 x 50%
circulating water pump sets for main unit
cooling, each providing 110 000 m3/h with 15.4
m head. These pumps are of the concrete volute
type. They rotate at 151 rpm, and operate with
an efficiency of 91.5%.
Concrete volute pumps have a number of
advantages over conventional, full-metal,
pumps, including long life, best resistance to
corrosion, reduced noise and vibration,
together with minimum maintenance. The
casing (volute) and suction duct are made of
standard reinforced concrete, with a very robust
design against corrosion and abrasion, while
good maintainability is assured by employing
a simple vertical shaft pull-out design that
allows critical parts such as the shaft and the
impeller to be easily removed for maintenance.
With low rotation speeds pressure losses are
reduced and the mass of the concrete structure
provides the pumps with excellent inertia
properties all contributing to high efficiency,
sustained over the whole machine lifetime.
The volute and suction line, both integrated
into the pumping station civil work, are
particularly resistant to corrosion and abrasion
and even in a seawater environment, as at
Flamanville, fouling hazards are reduced.
There is also minimal exposure of metal parts
to water.
The Flamanville 3 pump sets include a fully
equipped pull-out section, complete electrical
motors and gear boxes. The contract scope also
includes a full set of formworks for the
hydraulic concrete forms of both pumps.
Alstom has supplied more than 200 Bergeron
concrete volute pumps for condenser cooling
purposes worldwide.
The three 50% condensate extraction pump
sets for Flamanville 3 (two in operation, one in
standby) are also being supplied by Alstom.
These Bergeron pumps are of the vertical multistage bowl diffuser type, arranged inside a
suction barrel. They are designed for high
reliability (with experience at power plant sites
for over 25 years with minimum servicing). The
design is based on double suction impellers,
allowing reduced pump lengths but very high

efficiency. The barrel is installed in a concrete

pit below the condenser level and operates
under condenser pressure.
The double suction is located at the very
bottom of the pump in order to operate under
the best possible NPSH (net positive suction
head) conditions. The suction impeller has been
designed and tested to ensure the lowest
required NPSH at all operating points, while
the pressure stages are located as close as
possible to the pump discharge head.
The electric motor, which has its own
thrust-bearing device, is located on a separate
civil structure to avoid interactions with the
pump itself, and to minimise vibrations.
Alstom has already supplied more than 200
such Bergeron condensate extraction pumps
for nuclear power plant applications
worldwide.

)NTO THE CONSTRUCTION PHASE

The engineering phase of the Flamanville 3
turbine island is completed and manufacturing
is almost finished.
The turbine island erection phase started in
September 2009 and equipment already on site
includes main components for the condenser
which is the first major piece of equipment to
be installed such as hot well, neck and tube
bundles. Feedwater tanks, reheaters, HP
heaters and LP heaters are also now on site.
Turbine island construction is on target to hit
its contractual schedule, which calls for the
major milestone of turning of the 70 m long
shaft line using the electrical turning gear
in 2011.
A key challenge in the manufacturing of
turbine island components has been to reestablish a complete supply chain, following a
long period in Europe without significant
nuclear power plant orders. This had resulted in
a diminished pool of players, lack of
competition, and high prices, making a global
approach necessary, with the added challenge
of ensuring that all components were
manufactured to the relevant European
standards and required quality. Alstoms wide
network of dedicated sourcing professionals
located in traditional supplier markets helped
the Flamanville 3 project team to support a

.5#,%!2 0/7%2
#UTAWAY OF ')'!4/0  POLE TURBOGENERATOR

)LLUSTRATION OF CONCRETE VOLUTE

PUMP SET ARRANGEMENT

global sourcing approach. All suppliers selected

adhere to Alstoms high quality standards
including in terms of their technical capabilities
and EHS aspects.
Timely manufacturing of the turbine
components for Flamanville 3 has involved
collaboration among Alstoms worldwide
manufacturing sites and its global network of
suppliers. No less than 11 countries, including
the USA and several in Asia, were involved. As
part of this collaboration, a new milling
machine was sent from China to Alstoms
Morelia factory in Mexico, for manufacturing
of the diaphragm with which the
ARABELLE steam turbine is equipped.
The steam turbine itself is being assembled
in the Belfort factory in France. The Belfort
workshop has equipment that is among the
most modern in Europe and its capacity for

making large, heavy rotors makes it one of the

worlds key manufacturing sites. The casing
production line in the workshop was
completely renewed in 2002 with three very
large machining stations. In fact it has one of
the worlds largest vertical machining centres,
the VMG 10, which has an 8 m span between
columns and is able to machine the high and
intermediate pressure casings for Flamanville
and other EPR projects.
Globalisation
brings
its
challenges,
particularly when involving sub-contractors.
Machining of the 8 m diameter LP inner casing
for Flamanville 3, for example, proved too time
consuming for the sub-contractor initially
selected. So to keep things on schedule, Alstom
eventually had to take this work back into its
own facilities, Belfort for the inner casings and
Karlovac for the associated exhaust structures.

,0  DIAPHRAGM WITH THE !LSTOM TEAM AT -ORELIA /CTOBER 

This was more due to a scheduling issue than a

quality issue. But there have also been
instances where getting sub-suppliers to fully
understand the quality requirements took more
effort than had been initially anticipated.
However, the quality management is now in
place at these locations, and excellent work has
been done. This has included qualification
audits to check the quality systems of the
suppliers including their technical capabilities
and EHS aspects, as well as continuous checks,
surveillance audits and inspections during
execution.
The focus of turbine island activities has now
moved from manufacturing to construction,
where Alstom is on-site, working alongside its
customer, EDF, to deliver the project to the
required high quality levels, within a
MPS
demanding schedule.