Reactors In at First Floating Nuclear Plant

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - Two reactors have been successfully installed aboard the world's first floating nuclear power plant (NPP) being constructed in Russia.

The first 220-ton steam generating unit - including a 35 megawatt (MW) KLT-40S reactor - was installed in the vessel's reactor compartment on September 27 at the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in St Petersburg. The second one was installed a week later, using a special floating crane.

The floating plant, Akademik Lomonosov, is a 144-meter long ship, weighing in at 21,500 tons and which will be capable of generating 70 MW of electricity and 300 MW of heat, enough to power about 200,000 homes. Construction of the Akademik Lomonosov power plant -- valued at almost $300 million - began in 2007 at the Sevmash OJSC shipyard in Severodvinsk. However, financial problems delayed the project which was due to be commissioned last year. At the end of last year, the Baltic plant signed a new deal with state-owned Energoatom Concern OJSC (Moscow).

Russia wants the Akademik Lomonosov to be the first in a fleet of floating nuclear power plants intended to use to bring energy to remote parts of the country, particularly the northern coast and far east, which are economically poor. It is now due to be commissioned in 2016.

Deputy general director of Rosenergoatom's directorate for building floating nuclear power plants, Sergey Zavyalov, commented, "We, as the customer, can see that work on the project has intensified in the past months, which gives us strong confidence that the floating unit will be ready in time."

"The last time Baltiysky Zavod worked on this type of project was in 2001 when building the icebreaker '50 Let Pobedy', the last nuclear-powered icebreaker of the Arctic series," added Aleksandr Konovalov, Production Director and Acting Director General of Baltiysky Zavod. "So, this milestone event is important for the shipyard's revival."

The Akademik Lomonosov will be located near the port of Pevek on Russia's Chukotka peninsula on the East Siberian Sea.

In 2009, an agreement was signed between Rosatom and the Republic of Yakutia to invest in the development of four floating nuclear power plants that would be used to supply heat and electricity to the northern regions of the Siberian Republic. The agreement also involved the development of the Elkon uranium reserves, estimated at around 319,000 tons, which amounts to roughly 6% of the world's total reserves. For additional information, see May 1, 2009, article - Russia's First Floating Nuclear Power Plant to be Delivered by 2012.

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