Russia’s floating NPP (FNPP), the Akademik Lomonosov, will arrive at it permanent mooring in the port of Pevek in Chukotka in June 2019, the director general of nuclear utility Rosenergoatom, Andrei Petrov, said on 22 January following a meeting with the governor of the Chukotka Autonomous District Roman Kopin. Commissioning of the plant is scheduled for autumn 2019.
Petrov said that in June of this year the FNPP, now undergoing trials at the Baltiysky Zavod in St Petersburg, will be delivered to Murmansk for loading nuclear fuel and mooring tests. It will then make the 6000km-long voyage to Pevek, with more than 1000km of the sea route expected to be icy and to require icebreaker assistance.
The total number of personnel serving on the vessel will be 305, with 80 on duty on each shift. Earlier it was reported that Glavgosexpertiza (Main Department of State Expertise) had formally approved the project to energy infrastructure to support the FNPP in Pevek. The plant will supply heat and electricity to consumers, and can also be used for seawater desalination. It is equipped with two KLT-40S reactors, which are capable of producing up to 70MWe and 50 Gcal/h of thermal energy. Akademik Lomonosov will provide power to several new industrial projects in the remote Arctic region, including the Peschanka copper mine as well as to the established mining and metal cluster that includes gold mining companies and projects related to the Baimsk ore zone development
The FNPP project also involves the construction of hydraulic structures and the coastal infrastructure necessary for the transmission of electricity and heat to shore networks and other functions. The plant will replace the outgoing capacity of the Bilibino NPP in Chukotka, which generates 80% of the electricity in the isolated Chaun-Bilibino power system, and which is approaching the end of its design life. Unit 1 at Bilibino is scheduled to be permanently shut down in December, and the other three reactors will be closed in December 2021.
