Feature 2 | RUSSIA RS classes first ‘mass produced’ FNPS


Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) has announced that it will class a new floating nuclear power station (FNPS) – Akademik Lomonosov – currently under construction at Baltiysky Zavod shipyard. Tis is only the second vessel of this type ever to be built and the first to be built to class.


T


he entirely self-contained FNPS Akademik Lomonosov has an increased safety reactor facility


to supply the Far North and Far East with energy and is intended for production and distribution of the electrical and heat energy to shore-based facilities. It is being constructed for the Ministry for Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation –Rosatom. Currently under construction at St


Petersburg-based shipyard Baltiysky Zavod, the 140m loa by 30m beam barge is flush-decked, non-powered and has a displacement of 21,000tonnes. Te keel was laid on 15 April 2007 at Sevmash Zavod submarine-building plant in Severodvinsk and construction began shortly aſterwards, but it was moved to Baltiysky aſter the Russian government approved the transfer of construction in August 2008. It is understood that there are at least another seven vessels of this type planned to be constructed for Rosatom. Te first nuclear reactor for the vessel


was delivered in May 2009 and the second in August 2009. Akademik Lomonosov was launched on 30 June 2010 and is expected to be delivered to Rosatom in 2012. Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the state


atomic agency Rosatom, said that floating nuclear power stations “open a new era and create new prospects for modernising the power energy infrastructure of some of the more distant and isolated regions of Russia”. Critics have questioned the ‘rosy’ safety


picture being drawn by the brains behind the project and argue that the floating nuclear plant is a risky enterprise. Experts from the Green Cross environmental group say that a floating nuclear power station is a potentially vulnerable target for terrorists, who could carry out an underwater attack on the plant. Ecologists


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Akademik Lomonosov, the first floating nuclear power station to be constructed to Russian Maritime Register of Shipping class.


also believe that long-distance voyages made by nuclear plants in the open seas increase the risk of accidents and subsequent radioactive leaks. Other concerns are related to the storage


safety of the nuclear waste, which is to be kept at the plant until its facilities fill up, and then moved to in-land reprocessing and storage centres. Vladimir Chuprov, head of Greenpeace’s


energy project in Russia, said that in the event of an accident, nuclear pollution would spread across dozens of hectares of land. Critics also point to Russia’s


discouraging history of nuclear disasters, from the Chernobyl catastrophe to the sinking of the nuclear-powered submarine Kursk. However, Kiriyenko said that the plant


would be “absolutely safe,” adding that the Russian government expects a keen interest in such projects from foreign customers. It is understood that China


and India in particular have expressed enthusiasm. The estimated power output of the


FNPS is 70MW of electrical and 300MW of heat energy. The FNPS complies with current


safety and environment standards and requirements providing the possibility to use it in the vicinity of residential areas as well as to incorporate it into facilities of various purposes. According to RS the vessel will allow for


the implementation of projects requiring self-contained and uninterrupted power supply in areas that lack a developed power supply system. It can also be used for the extraction and sea transportation of hydrocarbons in the regions suffering from power supply shortages, such as the Far North and tropical regions. FNPS may also serve as a base for a water desalination installation. By adding the desalination capability to an energy system the FNPS becomes more cost-efficient when


Offshore Marine Technology 3rd Quarter 2010


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