Russia to start floating nuclear power plant in 2017

Rosatom Corporation will start the world's first floating nuclear power station, Akademik Lomonosov, in October 2017. Capable of generating up to 70MW of electricity from 300MW of heat, Rosatom intends to use the station to power Russia’s North Eastern coastal city of Pevek. As many as 15 countries, including China, Malaysia, Algeria and Argentina, have shown interest in acquiring this technology, according to Rosatom.

The Director of the Department of Information and Public Relations of Rosenergoatom concern, Andrew Timonov, spoke to Sputnik in an interview about the scheduled tests.

“Back in 2008 we started the construction of the floating nuclear power plant. By the name of the power plant, it is obvious that the key difference or feature of this power block is that it is mobile,” Timonov said.

“It can reach the consumer directly. This feature is especially useful in remote areas. It makes no sense to use such a station in the central parts of Russia, where there is a large saturation of roads and infrastructure facilities. The station is convenient for using in the Far East and Far North,” the director further said.

Talking about the functioning of the floating power unit, Timonov said that the unit will be deployed to Pevek, after completing the tests. It will be based in a specially equipped marina, with the necessary network infrastructure already setup.

“From there the whole city of Pevek and Chukotka will be supplied with electricity. After functioning for 12 years, the power unit will be shipped to Murmansk, where it will undergo repairs for one year. After that the power unit will return to its base and continue to work as a power plant.”

“This is a Russian know-how. Currently, the floating nuclear power unit Akademik Lomonosov is the only object of its type, the world's only mobile nuclear installation.

Many foreign countries have expressed great interest in this innovative project. For example, for an island nation it is more convenient to drag a ready-made energy block, instead of setting up the whole network infrastructure there,” the director concluded.

Floating nuclear power stations are planned to be used mainly in the Russian Arctic. Five of these will be used by Gazprom for offshore oil and gas field development and for operations on the Kola and Yamal peninsulas.

Other locations include Dudinka on the Taymyr Peninsula, Vilyuchinsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula and Pevek on the Chukchi Peninsula.

According to Rosatom, 15 countries, including China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Algeria, Namibia, Cape Verde and Argentina, have shown interest in acquiring such power plants.