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Russia aims for serial SMR production


round up


NEW BUILD THE UK DEPARTMENT for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) has announced that the Government and Sizewell C Limited are launching a pre-qualification process for potential investors, “as the first stage of an equity raise process for the Sizewell C project” this follows “agreement with our co-shareholder EDF”.


Above: Rosatom’s Shelf-M micro reactor design is destined for the mines of Russia’s Far East


Rosatom is expected to decide on the construction of a second low-power NPP (ASMM – Atomnoi Stantsii Maloi Moshnosti) with a RITM-200N reactor plant in Yakutia. Rosatom is already building a 55 MWe ASMM in the village of Ust-Kuyga in the autonomous Republic of Yakutia (Sakha) with a RITM-200N reactor unit. It will provide electricity for the Kyuchus gold deposit, the Kular gold-bearing region, the Tirekhtyakh Stream tin deposit and the Deputatsky tin deposits, as well as the development of other deposits of the mining cluster in Northern Yakutia. According to Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev, Rosatom “are finalising agreements with Seligdar that will allow us to double this capacity.”


In view of the significant prospects for further


growth of the economy, the Yakut government had approached Rosatom with a proposal to increase the capacity of the ASMM to 110 MWe, Rusatom Overseas said. Likhachev said: “The idea of using small-scale


nuclear power in the harsh conditions of the Far North was first realised in the 1970s when the Bilibino NPP was built to support development of the gold mining industry”. Bilibino NPP comprised four 12 MWe EGP-6 reactors. The decision to close them was approved in March 2016. They have been partly replaced by the Akademik Lomonosov – the world’s first floating NPP, which began operations in 2020. The ASMM in Ust-Kuyga will use the


latest RITM-200N reactor, which is based on experience in operating small reactors to power ships of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet (more than 400 reactor-years). To date, eight RITM-200 reactors have already been manufactured and installed on four icebreakers. The ASMM will need refuelling once every five years. Commissioning is scheduled for 2028. Likhachev also told the Eastern Economic Forum that Rosatom is moving towards serial


construction of ASMMs for the Arctic and far east using a conveyor belt method. He noted that four more FNPPs would soon be added to supply power to the Baimsky Mining & Processing Plant. As well as the ASMM being built at the


Kyuchus gold deposit, a Shelf-M 10 MWe micro- NPP is being developed to power gold mining in Chukotka. Rosatom has already selected the five most promising sites in Chukotka, Yakutia and the Krasnoyarsk Territory for the construction of Shelf-M reactors, according to Semyon Musher, Science Adviser at JSC Rusatom Overseas. “We want to use 10 MWe Shelf reactor plants


there. Construction takes four years from the date of obtaining a licence,” Musher noted. “As with all such facilities, the design first needs approval from Rostekhnadzor [nuclear regulator], since these are ground-based stations. After that, it will take four years, because these are harsh places. Elsewhere in a milder environment, they could be built in three years.”


The developer of the Shelf-M reactor plant and the designer is NA Dollezhal Scientific Research & Design Institute of Power Engineering (Nikiet). The service life of the station is 60 years and the reactor operates for about eight years on a single fuel load. The capacity of the reactor is 35 MWt or 10 MWe. It is planned to complete the technical designs of the plant and the main process equipment by 2024 with the aim of launching operations in 2030. The Shelf-M can operate using natural circulation of the primary coolant at approximately 30% of maximum power avoiding the need for power supply systems or pumps. Likhachev said the total needs in the Arctic


and far east for floating NPPs and ASMMs over the next 10-15 years will be 15 units and there will be more needed later. He added it is possible to produce small nuclear units for export. ■


www.neimagazine.com | October 2023 | 7


IN THE BUILDING of the unit 2 turbine hall at the Akkuyu NPP under construction in Turkiye, concreting of the foundation of the turbine unit has been completed. This is a key event enabling installation of turbine components. Earlier, a bridge crane with a carrying capacity of 350 tonnes was put into operation in the engine room of unit 1.


BRAZIL’S NUCLEAR UTILITY Eletronuclear said it will appeal against a court decision that has again paralysed construction work at unit 3 of the Angra NPP. The 2nd Civil Court of the District of Angra dos Reis revoked an injunction obtained by Eletronuclear in an arrest warrant that authorised the resumption of work at the unit.


ROSATOM IS STUDYING the possibility of building a 1,200 MWe NPP in the far east. According to preliminary estimates, the plant will comprise two VVER-type power units with a capacity of 600 MWe each. Regulators plan to decide on the site next year.


AT THE CONSTRUCTION site of Russia’s Leningrad NPP, the main excavation work has been completed to develop a foundation pit for the nuclear island of power unit 7. The seventh and eighth VVER-1200 units at Leningrad NPP are expected to start construction in 2024 and 2025 for completion by 2030 and 2032.


UNIT 2 OF South Korea’s Shin Hanul NPP in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, a Korean-designed APR1400, has received operational approval from the Nuclear Safety & Security Commission (NSSC). The reactor will start a six-month trial operation and will undergo pre-use inspections by the Commission before commercial operations. It will be South Korea’s 28th nuclear power unit.


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