Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant starts sea voyage to load fuel

Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant (FPU), Academik Lomonosov, has embarked on its first sea voyage to load its reactors with fuel.

The Academik Lomonosov floating nuclear power unit (FPU), which is owned by state-owned atomic energy corporation Rosatom, is also claimed to be the world’s first of its kind.

The floating power plant has set sail from the territory of Baltiyskiy Zavod in St Petersburg, where it was constructed, to its base in Chukotka in the Far East.

Floating NPP Construction and Operation directorate deputy head Dmitriy Alekseyenko said that the FPU will sail to Pevek (an Arctic port town in the ChAO area) in two stages. It will initially tow from St Petersburg to Murmansk, and then from Murmansk to Pevek.

Mr Alekseyenko said: “At the first stage, the FPU with no nuclear fuel on board will be towed from the territory of Baltiyskiy Zavod to the landing of Atomflot FSUE in Murmansk.

“Then, at the second stage (roughly in the summer of 2019) it will be sent from Murmansk to the seaport of Pevek, loaded with nuclear fuel and with the crew on board.”

Once the Akademik Lomonosov FPU reaches Murmansk, it will be loaded with fuel this autumn. The vessel will then set sail to Pevek where it will be connected to the coastal infrastructure.

Planned to be commissioned in 2019, the floating nuclear power plant will replace the Bilibino nuclear power plant and Chaunskaya Thermal power plant which are technologically outdated.

Featuring two KLT-40S reactor units, the floating nuclear plant will have capacity to generate up to 70MW of electric energy and 50 Gcal/hr of heat energy during its normal operation.

Designed for the operation at the areas of the Extreme North and the Russian Far East, the FPU is designed to provide electric energy for the remote industrial plants, port cities, as well as the offshore gas and oil platforms.

Source: Energy Business Review