Great Opportunities for Small Power session was held at the XII International Forum ATOMEXPO-2022 in Sochi on November 22. The discussion covered the outlook and the current development agenda of small nuclear power plant (SNPP) projects in hard-to-reach and isolated regions of the world.
The session was attended by Mikhail Chudakov, Deputy Director General of the IAEA; Kirill Komarov, First Deputy Director General and Director of Development and International Business Unit of ROSATOM; Thaung Han, Minister of Electric Power of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; Taalaibek Ibraev, Minister of Energy of the Kyrgyz Republic; Roman Kopin, Governor of Chukchi Autonomous District; Kirill Bychkov, First Deputy Chairperson of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia); Georgy Fotin, CEO of KAZ Minerals, and others. Anna Lazareva, a journalist and TV presenter on Russia-24, moderated the session.
The panelists discussed onshore and floating SNPP projects, transition from the conventional energy system to more flexible and sustainable solutions, ensuring basic generation anywhere in the world, creating balanced and stable energy ecosystems in hard-to-reach regions remote from central power grids.
As Kirill Komarov noted, SNPPs can fill their own niche in a country's energy mix. An SNPP is a low-carbon energy source at a predictable price for decades that will offer consumers energy independence, which is especially relevant in the current market situation. "There is a worldwide demand for environmentally friendly, economically sound and flexible solutions for hard-to-reach areas, island countries, development of natural resource deposits, and SNPPs are a perfect match for it. The advantages of such projects include compactness and modularity, that is the ability to replicate modules as power demand grows," he said.
Mikhail Chudakov mentioned that today there are more than 80 small power projects in 20 countries, and in this regard, Russia is a leader, as it already has ready reference solutions, including through the accumulated experience of operating small power technologies on the nuclear icebreaker fleet. According to him, there is a huge interest in small power technology in the world today, including from countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Brazil.
According to Taalaibek Ibraev, Minister of Energy of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyzstan today also considers the prospects of such solutions for the country. Today it is a country with a growing economy that seeks to unlock its economic and industrial potential and develop new energy-intensive facilities. SNPPs meet Kyrgyzstan's low carbon footprint goals. He singled out such SNPP's advantages as a high level of safety, all-weather capability, lower capital costs compared to the construction of a large-capacity plant, and a shorter construction period.
Thaung Han, Minister of Electric Power of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, said that Myanmar was interested in cooperation with Russia and ROSATOM in the field of electrification and found significant benefits in the use of the small power technology.
For reference:
The world's only floating nuclear power plant (FNPP), Akademik Lomonosov, is operating in Chukotka Autonomous District. The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is implementing a project to build Russia's first onshore SNPP. Many countries around the world, including Argentina, Armenia, India, China, Nigeria, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, and others are interested in SNPP technologies, and the leading players in the nuclear market entertain the idea of implementing their own small power projects.