Scheduled repairs are underway at Russia’s floating NPP (PATES – Plavuchaya Atomnaya TeploElektroStantsiya), Akademik Lomonsov, which began operation in 2020 in the city of Pevek (Chukotka Autonomous District). In early July, planned repairs started at the reactor unit on the starboard side of the FNPP started. These will end in September, and work will then switch to the port side. The plant has two KLT-40S reactor units.
During the 2025 repair campaign, a protective coating will be applied to the turbine blades on the starboard side, and three internal devices for the steam generators will be replaced. To optimise the repair time, machines for cutting and welding dredging devices were installed at the plant in advance. This set of equipment will make it possible to carry out technically complex manipulations with the steam generators safely and efficiently.
Anton Martynov, Head of the Repair and Preparation Department, said 77 employees of the plant are involved in the repair this year. “Steam generators will be repaired around the clock, seven days a week. The multi-shift mode will make it possible to quickly perform all operations planned by the regulations, and reducing the repair time will increase the supply of electricity. We expect that such a schedule will help the station to additionally generate up to 70,000 kWh, or 28% of the plan for 2025.”
During maintenance operations at the Akademik Lomonosov, one reactor unit is stopped, and the second one continues to function, ensuring an uninterrupted supply of energy. Currently, the operating unit has a capacity of 20 MWe.
The commissioning of the PATES in Chukotka was designed to solve two key tasks. Firstly, it will replace the retiring capacities of the Bilibino NPP, which has been operating since 1974, as well as the Chaunskaya thermal plant, which has been operating for more than 70 years. It supplies Pevek with both heat and electricity.
Secondly, it supplies energy to the main mining enterprises located in the west of Chukotka, in the Chaun-Bilibinsky energy hub – a large ore and metal cluster that includes gold mining companies and projects related to the development of the Baim ore zone. The total capacity of the NPP supplied to the Pevek coastal network excluding the consumption of thermal energy by the shore is about 70 MWe, or 44 MWe when operating in the mode of maximum heat output. The population of Pevek is a little over 4,000, while the NPP can potentially provide electricity to a city with a population of up to 100,000.
