Rosenergoatom has installed the first sheet pile at the construction site of the coastal infrastructure for the floating nuclear heat and power plant (FNHPP), known as Lomonosov the Academician, in Pevek, the most northern city in Russia.
Scheduled to be commissioned by 2019, the FNHPP in the Chukotka Autonomous Region is expected to become the world’s most northern nuclear power plant.
The FNHPP will replace the current northernmost nuclear power plant, Bilibinskaya, also located in Chukotka.
Additionally, the new power plant is expected to address power needs for the major mining companies located in western Chukotka in the Chaun-Bilibino power center. It will be owned by Rosenergoatom Concern’s affiliate company.
Chukotka Autonomous Region governor said: “It does not mean that the FNHPP will fully cover the power needs of those companies; however, it will be operational and will give development incentives to the industry at the first stage, when it is supposed to substitute the withdrawn power plant and to supply power for new needs.”
Rosenergoatom, in coordination with the Department of Energy, Chukotenergo, and RAO EES Vostok, plans to complete assessment of technical conditions for the FNHPP’s power delivery by October-November 2016.
Since July 2016, a floating power block has been undergoing basin trials to validate its compliance with the project equipment and systems’ parameters as well as its working capacity.
The basin trials are planned to be completed by late October 2017.
The power block is constructed pursuant to the 20870 project. It will be operated as a part of the FNHPP, which will have an operational life of up to 40 years.
Image: The Lomonosov the Academician floating nuclear heat and power plant is being built in Pevek, Russia. Photo: courtesy of Rosenergoatom Concern JSC.