Russian state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom has announced it will build four new floating nuclear power plants, specifically to power mining operations in northern Siberia.
Akademik Lomonosov. Photo: Elena Dider / Wikimedia. Licence: CC BY-SA
The Akademik Lomonosov, which made its maiden voyage two years ago, was the world's first floating nuclear power plant. Photo: Elena Dider / Wikimedia. Licence: CC BY-SA
The vessels will be constructed over the next six years and will sail to the remote region of Chukotka in Russia's far northeast and used to power the Baimskaya copper mine.
According to Russian media, construction of the vessels will take place at St Petersburg's Baltic Shipyard and is set to cost around €1.7 billion.
Three of the floating nuclear plants, each with two 55MW reactors, will make the trip to Siberia, and the fourth will be kept in reserve to take over should one of them require maintenance or refuelling.
The first two of the four floating plants are scheduled to reach their working location on Chaunskaya Bay in the East Siberian Sea by 2026. Once in place, they will connect to powerlines spanning 400 kilometres to the Baimskaya mine. The third unit is due to be connected at the end of 2027.
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The news comes nearly two years after the maiden voyage of the Akademik Lomonosov, which supplies power to a different mine in Chukotka in 2020.
The reserve vessel will also be used as a reserve for the larger, less advanced vessel Akademik Lomonosov, which requires refuelling every 12 years.
St. Petersburg & Baimskaya copper mine, Russia
The four nuclear vessels will be constructed in St. Petersburg Shipyard (green) and will be used to power the Baimskaya copper mine (red) in the far eastern region of Chukotka.
Construction of the Akademik Lomonosov took more than a decade and was subject to protests from environmental campaigners.
The news of the four new vessels suggests at least a tacit approval of the continuation of the floating nuclear plants programme by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rosatom is also reportedly looking to eventually promote smaller versions of the Akademik Lomonosov to customers outside Russia.
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In December 2020, Russia's official Tass newswire quoted politicians as saying that a number of countries had shown interest in acquiring the "optimised" floating nuclear plants. While it is unclear exactly which countries those are, Rosatom has claimed that governments in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia have shown interest, without specifying further.
Tass also reported that Rosatom was in talks with Cuba about both land- and sea-based reactors. In 2018, the company also discussed the possibility of constructing a floating plant for Sudan.
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