Safety Upgrade for Nuclear Power Plants

SCHOTT presents hermetic glass-to-metal sealed Electrical Penetration Assemblies at ATOMEXPO

Moscow (Russia) / Landshut (Germany), May 12, 2011 – By offering the world's safest Electrical Penetration Assemblies (EPA), SCHOTT will be exhibiting at the ATOMEXPO in Moscow for the first time ever. Thanks to their glass-to-metal compression seal that does not age, these EPAs remain gas and radiation tight for more than 40 years. They enable the energy supply for pumps and electronic devices inside the power plant's containment structures and provide the pass-through for control and instrumentation signals.

Russia is a leading nuclear technology developer. Like many other countries, this nation is planning to increase the number of nuclear power plants – from 31 to 59 by 2020. For this reason, the ATOMEXPO organized by Rosatom, the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, is hosting many experts and companies from all over the world. The lesson of the recent incidents is that the level of nuclear safety needs to be raised even further.

As safety critical components, EPAs from SCHOTT offer an extremely high level of security, thanks to their unique design. They consist of metal conductors, a glass sealant and a metal housing. The preassembled component is heated up to a temperature at which the glass melts to the metal. During the cooling process, the metal housing contracts to a much greater extent than the glass does. This compression creates a highly pressure-resistant and hermetically sealed unit.

“We are the only supplier that produces EPAs using a special compression glass-to-metal seal instead of epoxy as a sealant,” says Thomas Fink, General Manager of the Nuclear Safety Division of SCHOTT Electronic Packaging in Germany. “That means higher safety. Installed once, our cable penetrations that do not age remain maintenance-free due to their unlimited lifetime in terms of their pressure barrier and hermeticity. It is the safest technology for EPAs available today,” he notes.

With its exceptional offering, SCHOTT is able to enhance the safety of both existing and future nuclear power plants. More than 12,000 have already been installed in about 100 nuclear power plants around the world. Among these are the two Russian nuclear icebreakers as well as Hungary’s only nuclear power plant in Paks that is currently upgrading to SCHOTT’s electrical penetration assemblies.

Connectorized Electrical Penetration Assembly (EPA) solution for pressurized water reactors (PWR) and boiling water reactors (BWR). EPAs provide the pass-through for power, control and instrumentation cables to thousands of instruments, control panels, electric motors and many other electric and electronic devices, while maintaining pressure boundary integrity of the containment structure.

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As a business unit of the international technology group SCHOTT, Electronic Packaging (EP) is a leading manufacturer of housings and other components for the reliable, long-term protection for sensitive electronics. The core technologies are glass-to-metal and ceramic-to-metal sealing, thermal sensing components as well as a variety of cutting edge specialty glass competences. With 1,500 employees at four production locations and several competence centers around the world, local customer support and co-developments for individual packaging solutions are at the heart of the business, serving the world’s leading manufacturers in the automotive, data- and telecommunication, sensors and semiconductors, consumer electronics, dental care, home appliances, laser as well as security and tracking industries. For more information: www.schott.com/epackaging

SCHOTT is an international technology group that sees its core purpose as the lasting improvement of living and working conditions. To this end, the company has been developing special materials, components, and systems for more than 125 years. The main areas of focus are the household appliances industry, pharmaceuticals, solar energy, electronics, optics, and the automotive industry. The SCHOTT Group is present in close proximity to its customers with production and sales companies in all its major markets. The Group’s approximately 17,500 employees generated worldwide sales of approximately 2.9 billion Euros in the fiscal year 2009/2010. The company’s technological and economic expertise is closely linked with its social and ecological responsibility. The SCHOTT AG is an affiliate of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung (Foundation). www.schott.com