On the sidelines of the 25th St Petersburg Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russia’s Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) signed an agreement of intent and the procedure for organising cooperation with Rosatom to build a 10MWe small NPP (ASMM) with a SHELF-M reactor in Yakutia by 2030. The document was signed by Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev and the Head of the Republic of Sakha, Aisen Nikolaev.
The project is planned to be implemented within the framework of the comprehensive federal programme. "Development of equipment, technologies and scientific research in the field of the use of atomic energy in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2024". Commissioning of the pilot ASMM is scheduled for 2030.The parties plan to develop and approve a road map for the implementation of the project later this year.
The SHELF-M reactor is being developed by the NA Dollezhal Scientific Research and Design Institute of Power Engineering (Nikiet). The Luch Scientific Production Association in Podolsk is developing fuel for the reactor and in May supplied a batch of samples of fibre uranium-niobium fuel elements (fuel rods) of various modifications for reactor testing at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (NIIAR) in Dimitrovgrad.
The construction of the ASMM with the SHELF-M reactor plant will enable Yakutia to provide a reliable source of power supply to settlements and industrial enterprises located in remote areas with practically no energy or transport infrastructure.
One ASMM project is already underway in Yakutia for a plant based on the latest RITM-200N reactor. The construction of the plant will ensure a stable and clean energy supply for the Kyuchus gold mine development project, which is one of the largest in Russia. Commissioning of the plant in the village of Ust-Kuyga in the Ust-Yansky district of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is scheduled for 2028. During the SPIEF Russia’s Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Rosatom signed a cooperation agreement on the terms of a concession agreement for the project and for a road map of joint activities necessary to conclude the concession agreement.
Construction of the ASMM will be carried out as part of the Far Eastern Concession programme based on the use of a public-private partnership model, which was developed by the Ministry for the Development of the Far East to accelerate the creation of infrastructure for new enterprises.
In 2021, a trilateral agreement was signed by the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East, Rosatom and the Republic of Sakha for development of the project, including the necessary infrastructure complex. A positive conclusion of the state environmental review has already been received, engineering surveys have been completed, public hearings have been held, and work is underway to register land plots for the construction of the station and infrastructure
