The world’s only floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) – Akademic Lomonosov – has been fully commissioned in Pevek, located in the Chukotka region of Russia’s Far East, according to an announcement by the state-run atomic energy corporation Rosatom.
“Today (May 22) we can consider the floating nuclear power plant construction project successfully completed. We finished our main task for this year of fully commissioning the FNPP in Pevek, Chukotka. Thus, it officially becomes the 11th nuclear power plant in Russia and the northernmost one in the world,” Andrei Petrov, Director of Rosatom’s electrical energy division, Rosenergoatom, which has implemented the project, said in a statement.
Earlier, the Russian nuclear and environmental watchdog, Rostechnadzor, carried out an inspection of the project and verified that the FNPP has been built in accordance with all the regulatory requirements. Besides, the project has also received the requisite approvals from the country’s environmental executive authority, Rosprirodnadzor, certifying that the FNPP fully adheres to all norms and regulations, including sanitary, epidemiological, environmental, fire safety, construction and federal standards.
According to the statement, the FNPP started providing electricity to the isolated Chaun-Bilibino grid of the Chukotka region on December 19, 2019. The US POWER magazine described it as one of the six key global nuclear energy industry events of 2019.
The FNPP has already generated over 47.3 million kWh of electricity since being connected to the grid. Currently, it covers 20% of the Chaun-Bilibino grid demand. The FNPP will become the main energy source for Chukotka following the shutdown of the Bilibino NPP .
This FNPP includes coastal infrastructure and the Akademik Lomonosov floating power unit equipped with two KLT-40S reactors with an electric power of 35 MW each. The FNPP’s power capacity is 70 MW, while its heat capacity is 50 gigacalories (Gcal)/ hour. The plant length is 140 meters, its width is 30 meters, and its displacement measures 21,500 tons. The FNPP’s service life is 40 years.
