Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant (FPU), Academik Lomonosov, has arrived in Murmansk to load its reactors with fuel.
Image: The Academik Lomonosov floating nuclear power plant. Photo: courtesy of The State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM.
Claimed to be the world’s first of its kind, the Academik Lomonosov floating nuclear power unit is owned by state-owned atomic energy corporation Rosatom.
The FPU, once loaded with fuel, will be towed to the town of Pevek in Chukotka, Russian Far East. It will be connected to the grid to replace the Bilibino nuclear power plant and Chaunskaya Thermal power plant that are technologically outdated.
Bright New World Organization executive director Ben Heard said: “This power plant is going to replace an existing coal-fired power station and provide zero-carbon electricity generation for 50,000 people.
“There is literally no prospect of that energy coming from renewable sources in that location. Any organization citing ‘protection of the Arctic’ to make blunt objections to this or any other nuclear project has the risks back-to-front and upside-down.”
The FPU has set sail from the territory of Baltiyskiy Zavod in St. Petersburg, where it was constructed, to its base in Chukotka in the Far East, prior to departing to Murmansk.
Rosatom director general Alexey Likhachev said: “We have successfully towed the power unit, not yet loaded with nuclear fuel, to Murmansk and are going to fully launch here this unique project, which was only made possible thanks to cooperation of many companies.
“Akademic Lomonosov is an unparalleled piece of engineering by Russian scientists. It is a first-of-a-kind, reference project for mobile medium capacity range nuclear power units, a product we expect to be in growing demand in the coming years.”
The Akademik Lomonosov’s reactors will be leaded with nuclear fuel in the coming months and will be towed to the sea port of Pevek in 2019 for connection to the coastal infrastructure.
Featuring two KLT-40S reactor units, the floating nuclear plant will have capacity to generate up to 70MW of electric energy and 50 Gcal/hr of heat energy during its normal operation.
Designed for the operation at the areas of the Extreme North and the Russian Far East, the FPU will provide electric energy for the remote industrial plants, port cities, as well as the offshore gas and oil platforms.