ROSATOM and the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (FEDC) have signed a cooperation agreement to build Russia's first onshore small nuclear power plant (SNPP) in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The document was signed at the Mining Industry: Investment Projects and Support Measures Forum held in Moscow within the framework of the Russian Business Week.
The agreement was signed by Oleg Sirazetdinov, Vice-President for Small Capacity Projects, Contracting and Packaged Deliveries of Equipment of RAOS JSC, and Kirill Kamenev, Deputy Director General for Investment Raising of FEDC.
As part of the cooperation, FEDC will assist ROSATOM in choosing the most effective measures of government support for this project in the Russian Arctic. The SNPP will be built in the Ust?Yansky Ulus (District) in the northern part of Yakutia.
Kirill Kamenev, Deputy Director General for Investment Raising of FEDC, noted that today businesses that invest in the development of Russia's northern territories have a variety of preferences: "We take into account the characteristic features of the Far East and the Arctic – the remote and isolated territories without a centralized power supply, and a large number of promising mineral deposits. The construction of a small nuclear power plant in the macro-region will play a positive role for their industrial development and, most importantly, will provide a guaranteed local source of energy at an affordable price for consumers. The pilot onshore plant construction project will be implemented in conjunction with the development of the Kyuchuskoye Field. The investor will be able to implement it being granted benefits as a resident of an advanced development zone, or the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation. We will help ROSATOM to analyze which of these preferential regimes would be best for the SNPP construction. It is about the application of advanced domestic technologies, guaranteed power supply to remote areas of Yakutia and improving the quality of life of northerners. We will assist in finding the best solution."
"I am confident that our partnership with the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation will create the most favorable conditions for the implementation of the flagship onshore small nuclear power plant, which is innovative not only for this country but for the whole world. The project will provide a clean, cost-effective and stable source of energy to remote Arctic areas of Yakutia with a decentralized power supply. The electric capacity of the station will be at least 55 MW, with the service life of non-replaceable equipment up to 60 years. A significant part of the SNPP's carbon-free electricity will be used for the development of Kyuchus, one of the largest gold fields in Russia, the nearby Deputatskoye and Tirekhtyakh tin deposits, and the municipalities of Yakutia. This will create a strong industrial cluster in the region with new jobs and occupations. With the nuclear power plant, the social infrastructure and industry will get a boost for the development. In the future, we also expect to replace some of the technologically obsolete stations running on diesel and other hydrocarbon raw materials and reduce the carbon footprint," said Oleg Sirazetdinov, Vice-President for Small Capacity Projects, Contracting and Packaged Deliveries of Equipment of RAOS JSC.
For reference:
In 2021, on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum, the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and ROSATOM signed an agreement on the implementation of a project for carbon-free nuclear generation based on a RITM-200 reactor plant in the Arctic zone. In 2022, an agreement was signed between ROSATOM, the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia, the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia and the Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) on cooperation in the development of a mineral resource center in the Arctic part of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
The project of a small nuclear power plant is based on the latest Russian development – the RITM?200N water-water nuclear reactor, which is the result of an innovative onshore adaptation of the low-capacity ship-based technology. The RITM-200 series reactors have been tested in the harsh conditions of the Arctic on the latest Russian icebreakers and meet all post-Fukushima safety requirements for modern NPP projects. The plant's characteristic features include compact size, modular design and reduced construction timeframe, compared to large nuclear power plants.
As of today, ROSATOM has already obtained a positive opinion of the state environmental expert review on the materials substantiating the license for the plant construction; pre-design engineering survey has been carried out; the creation of off-site infrastructure facilities and the construction of a temporary camp for workers have been launched ahead of schedule.