ROSATOM’S SMR PLAY | SMRs & ADVANCED REACTORS


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The Shelf-M reactor is manufactured, assembled, and tested at a factory, then transported as a sealed capsule with the fuel loaded


and installed on nuclear-propelled icebreakers and up to 20 more are expected to become operational by 2030, including the RITM-200N modification for the pilot onshore plant in Yakutia and the RITM-200S reactors for the floating plant to power the Baimskiy mine. The first-of-a-kind Shelf-M-based plant is scheduled to be operational by 2030 supplying power to the Sovinoye mine in Chukotka, while the demonstration unit of SVBR-100 is expected to be started up in the early 2030s in Dmitrovgrad. Additionally, Rosatom is working on two other major reactor projects, which are planned to be in series deployment from the middle of 2030s: a mobile transportable micro-reactor of about 1 MWe (based on Russian space and defence microreactor technologies) and high temperature gas- cooled reactors for industrial process heat applications, and first of all, hydrogen production.


RITM-200, the flagship SMR The RITM series design is based on Soviet PWR technology initially developed for icebreaker vessels with several hundreds of reactor-years of service. This series marks a transition from the old loop-type (OK-150 reactors) through the multi-unit configuration (OK-900, KLT-40 series) to an integral layout, where the key components, including the steam generators, are all housed within the same reactor vessel. The introduction of innovative technological solutions has led to a reduction in the overall reactor weight, an extension of the continuous operational period, and an increase in the service life of replaceable components, thereby improving both efficiency and reliability. The RITM-200 series concept aims to reconcile the idea


of standardised modular manufacturing –enabling SMRs to achieve significant cost reductions over time – with a wide spectrum of diverse needs requiring different features and characteristics. Its philosophy revolves around the principle of modifications and add-ons to the same basic design of the series, utilising standard key components. It enables RITM reactors to serve three interconnected


market areas: marine transport applications (nuclear icebreakers and nuclear propelled cargo vessels), small- capacity land-based nuclear power plants, and floating nuclear power units. The RITM series design boasts a number of significant advantages. Unlike most evolutionary PWR designs, it


utilises accident-tolerant fuel based on high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU), which offers enhanced safety features. It also allows for an extended refuelling interval of up to seven years, and characteristics that enable higher reactor manoeuvrability (10 to 100% at 6% of nominal power per minute, compared with typical PWRs capable of changing electric output at an average rate of 30-50% per hour). For applications in grids with a high share of variable renewables, the load-following capabilities of the RITM-200 plant could be further enhanced by utilising the flexibility of the steam turbine unit, with additional features based on cogeneration or heat storage systems. Turbine units of this kind are equipped with a high-speed


reduction gear, which redirects excess steam away from the turbine to cogeneration devices, such as heating or heat storage systems, or dumps steam into the condenser. The Akademik Lomonosov floating power plant, for example, is equipped with TK-35/38-3.4 steam turbine units. Turbine of that design have three steam extraction lines: the first and third are non-adjustable and are used for feedwater heating. The second is an adjustable extraction though and can direct steam for feedwater heating and for heating water in the intermediate circuit which is used for district heating in Pevek. Depending on the variability of the load and the demand for cogeneration, RITM-200-based plants can be equipped with a broad range of add-ons. For instance, in hotter climates, excess steam could be used for cooling (particularly for data centres) with the help of absorption chillers thus bypassing the need for electricity generation and its consumption by electric air conditioners. Excess steam could also be utilised for seawater desalination (Russian engineers pioneered nuclear-powered seawater desalination using a small fast-neutron reactor, BN-350, in the town of Aktau in Kazakhstan in the 1970s), as well as for pulp and paper production, the manufacturing of polymers, and the production of ammonia and urea. The flexibility of the team turbine unit, combined with


the versatility of the reactor unit, enables a combined system flexibility that effectively matches the capabilities of fossil fuel-fired peaking power plants. At the same time, flexible cogeneration improves capacity utilisation rates, which, given RITMs’ higher overall availability factors, leads to a lower levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) and cost of heat. Additionally, as Rosatom expands further into the


www.neimagazine.com | February 2024 | 39


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