World’s first floating nuclear power plant operational in Russia in 2017

The world’s first floating nuclear cogeneration power plant Akademik Lomonosov may be commissioned in Russia’s Chukotka in 2017, Russian mass media quoted Sergei Kiriyenko, Director General of the Russian state corporation Rosatom, as saying.

BelTA has learned that the manufacturer Baltiysky Zavod is expected to commission the power plant on schedule in mid-2016. After that the power plant will have to be tested for half a year as part of a floating power-generating unit. Then it will have to be transported. “In essence the power plant may start working in Chukotka in late 2016 – early 2017,” said Sergei Kiriyenko.

Earlier the operation of Akademik Lomonosov was supposed to begin in late 2018. The floating nuclear cogeneration power plant will replace the Bilibino nuclear power plant that will be shut down in 2019-2020.

According to the Rosatom head, the creation of the necessary shore infrastructure in Chukotka is central to the launch of the floating nuclear cogeneration power plant’s operation. “They are lagging behind the schedule by quite a large margin. We can deliver the power plant but they will not be ready to take its heat and electricity. We are now working with the administration of the Chukotka Autonomous District. Vice Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev, plenipotentiary representative of the president for the Far East Federal District, controls the work,” said Sergei Kiriyenko.

The floating nuclear cogeneration power plant Akademik Lomonosov is being built by the Saint Petersburg-based company OAO Baltiysky Zavod for Rosenergoatom, which operates all the nuclear power plants in Russia. The new power plant is the first one in the series of mobile transportable small-output power-generating units. The floating power-generating unit is designed to provide electricity to major industrial enterprises, port cities, factories that extract and process oil and gas on sea shelf. It is based on the batch-produced power plant of nuclear icebreaker ships. In turn, their design has been tested by many years of operation in the Arctic Region. The floating nuclear cogeneration power plant will be able to generate 80MW of electricity and will comprise two reactors KLT-40S. OAO OKBM Afrikantov is the general designer, the manufacturer, and the supplier of equipment for these reactors with the heating capacity of 150MW each. OKBM Afrikantov is part of Atomenergomash, the mechanical engineering division of Rosatom.