Russia approves floating nuclear power plant project

Russia’s Glavgosexpertiza has approved the construction of a floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) Akademik Lomonosov.

The main purpose of the pilot project is to supply power to large industrial enterprises, port cities and offshore gas and oil platforms. 

Equipped with reactor units that will be able to produce up to 70MW of electric energy and 50 Gcal/hr of thermal energy to supply a town of 100,000 people, Akademik Lomonosov will have a 21,500-tonne floating power unit that could also be used as a water softener.

Designed to last 40 years, the FNPP is designed to produce 240,000 cubic metres of water per day.

The FNPP will replace the Bilibino nuclear power plant, which generates 80 per cent of the electricity produced by the closed-loop Chaun-Bilibino energy system at Chukotka in the Arctic region.

Upon completion of tests in the third quarter of 2018, FNPP Akademik Lomonosov will leave the shipyard and be towed to Murmansk, where nuclear fuel will be loaded. The nuclear reactor start-up is scheduled for November.

The pilot project is for Rosenergoatom Concern, which is a part of Rosatom’s electric power division.