MURMANSK, 6 December 2018 - Reactor unit No.1 of the world’s only floating power unit (FPU), Akademik Lomonosov, was turned on at 10% of its capacity. The FPU is now moored at the Atomflot site (a ROSATOM company) in Murmansk. Technicians completed all necessary preparatory operations and performed all required assessments before the procedure.
ROSATOM CEO Alexey Likhachev said: “We successfully conduct FPU tests, in accordance with the schedule. There is no doubt that by next autumn we will tow Akademik Lomonosov to Pevek, just as planned. The floating nuclear power plant is an ideal solution to power remote areas. We consider this project as a new product, which is of interest not only for the grid-isolated Russian Arctic regions but also for a number of countries around the world. Thus, today we are demonstrating to potential partners reference technologies in the field of small nuclear power reactors. I am convinced that the growing demand for this product will cement Russia’s leading position in the world’s nuclear technology market“.
Power start-up’ is a series of functionality and safety tests conducted on Akademik Lomonosov’s reactor, that are to be completed before connection to the grid. The first stage is implemented at 1-10% of the reactor’s capacity and the final stage at 110%. During each stage, various operation modes are tested in order to ensure the FPU’s safety.
All comprehensive tests and preparatory procedures are expected to be completed at the unique FPU Akademik Lomonosov by March 2019. The FPU will be towed to the port of Pevek (Russia’s northernmost town) in the third quarter of 2019. There, it will operate as part of a floating nuclear power plant, replacing the outgoing capacities of the Bilibino NPP and the Chaunskaya CHPP.
The ‘power start-up’ is a significant milestone in ROSATOM’s work on second-generation FPUs, i.e. Optimized Floating Power Units (OFPUs), which will be built in a series and be available for export. Rosatom’s strategy, envisages supplying latest generation floating nuclear power plants to the most promising SMR markets across the globe. So far, significant interest in Rosatom’s FNPP technology has come from the Middle East, North Africa and South-East Asia.
Akademik Lomonosov is the pilot project in a series of transportable small modular power units that are being produced for Rosenergoatom, ROSATOM’s subsidiary in charge of operating Russia’s nuclear power plants.
Notes to the editor:
About the FNPP
The FNPP was designed to make it possible to supply electricity to hard-to-reach areas of the Russian Federation, regardless of transport infrastructure, landscape, and cost of fuel delivery. Up to 40% of the cost of fossil fuel-based electricity generation is attributed to the price of coal, oil or gas, as well as to the cost of their delivery. This figure is even higher for especially remote locations. The small size, light weight, and fixed cost of the FNPP eliminate many such challenges. These small nuclear reactors can operate non-stop without the need for refuelling for three to five years, thereby considerably reducing the cost of electricity generation.
The reactors have the potential to work particularly well in regions with extended coastlines, power supply shortages, and limited access to electrical grids. The plant can be delivered to any point along a coast and connected to existing electrical grids.
About United Shipbuilding Corporation
JSC ‘United Shipbuilding Corporation’ is Russia’s largest shipbuilding company. It is established in line with the decree of the President of the Russian Federation in 2007 with the 100% of shares in the federal ownership. The holding includes around 40 enterprises and organization of the industry (major shipyards and dockyards, leading project and design bureaus). Currently, the USC consolidates the biggest part of the country’s shipbuilding complex. The Russian market is the main one for the state corporation, which also exports its products to 20 countries around the world.
About ROSATOM
ROSATOM is the only company in the world to offer integrated clean energy solutions across the nuclear supply chain and beyond, including the design, build and operation of nuclear power stations, uranium mining, conversion and enrichment, the supply of nuclear fuel, decommissioning, spent fuel storage and transportation and safe nuclear waste disposal. With seventy years’ continuous experience, the company is the world leader in high-performance solutions for all kinds of nuclear power plants. It is also working in the segments of wind generation, nuclear medicine, energy storage and other. Headquartered in Moscow, the company brings together over 300 enterprises and organizations and over 250,000 employees. Globally, the company has the second biggest uranium reserves, has 40% of the world’s enrichment market and is the world's biggest builder of the latest generation nuclear power stations and US$133 billion 10-years export order book.