10 Jan (NucNet): The independent Russian technical institution Glavgosexpertiza has approved aspects of the planned floating nuclear power station to be deployed at Pevek, an Arctic port town in Russia’s far north-eastern region of Chukotka.
According to state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Glavgosexpertiza approved the technical aspects of the proposed plant and its costs. Glavgosexpertiza said it checked the project for “other legal requirements”, but gave no further details.
The floating nuclear plant, Akademik Lomonosov, will be the first to be built and deployed since the MH-1A, also known as the Sturgis, in the US in 1967. The Sturgis was towed to the Panama Canal Zone that it supplied with 10 MW of electricity from October 1968 to 1975.
Russia’s nuclear operator Rosenergoatom said in October 2017 that flushing of the primary systems had been completed at the Akademik Lomonosov, which is under construction at the Baltic Shipyard, or Baltiysky Zavod, in St Petersburg. Rosenergoatom said the operation was originally planned for November 2017 and had been completed ahead of schedule.
In July 2017, Rosenergoatom said the facility was 96% complete. Rosenergoatom said it plans to begin installing the Akademik Lomonosov in its place In September 2019.
The Akademik Lomonosov will be the first vessel of a proposed fleet of floating plants with small pressurised water reactor units that can provide energy, heat and desalinated water to remote and arid areas of the country.
The 21,000-tonne vessel will have two Russian-designed KLT-40S reactor units with an electrical power generating capacity of 35 MW each, sufficient for a city with a population of around 200,000 people.
Rosatom said the Akademik Lomonosov will replace capacity lost when the Bilibino nuclear station in Chukotka is shut down. According to Rosatom, Bilibino generates 80% of electricity in the isolated region.
Unit 1 at Bilibino is scheduled to be permanently shut down in December 2018. The remaining three units will be shut down in December 2021, Rosatom has said.
