The Nuclear renaissance taking place in Russia has resulted in increased construction of nuclear power generating units. This in turn has made the market attractive for foreign manufacturers.
Leading players in this market include companies such as Auma Riester, who produce modular electric actuators, supporting valve automation for 45 years. For the nuclear sector specifically, they produce actuators for inside and outside containment applications.
“The Nuclear market is one of our top priorities, as we have significant experience in this field”, says Sergei Shimanskiy, Nuclear Director for Auma Russia. “ Our actuators have been supplied to nuclear power plants in many EU countries, the Russian Federation, post-Soviet states, India, China and other states for over 30 years,” he continues. “Indeed, on the strength of this reputation and positive feedback, we have been selected as the sole manufacturer and supplier of electric actuators for the first European pressurized reactor (EPR), which is now under construction in Finland (Olkiluoto 3). For Russia specifically, we have installed actuators in Leningrad, Kalinin, Kola, Novovoronezh, Kursk, Bilibino and Balakovo nuclear power plants. In 2009, our actuators were supplied to the Beloyarsk and Rostov nuclear power plants.”
But what difficulties are faced for foreign manufacturers trying enter this Market? There is no doubt that that the rewards for companies who break in to this sector are fantastic.
“In view of the above it’d be relevant to consider the difficulties foreign manufacturers may face with the delivery of their products to Russian nuclear power plants,” says Shimanskiy.
But Rosatom´s well publicized policy aimed at encouraging competition, with a view to bolstering technology innovation and increasing reliability and safety, would seem to contradict this, would it not?
“Foreign manufacturers are known to compete under more severe price conditions due to higher logistics costs and customs duties, as well as higher fabrication expenses,” counters Shimanskiy. “As well as this, delivery of nuclear equipment involves formal obstacles such as sticking to delivery terms for imported equipment,” that is, apart from OIT certification which is compulsory for all “nuclear” manufacturers, specific decisions on the application of imported products for nuclear power plants have to be given to foreign manufacturers.
The fact that the examination procedure stipulated by the “Delivery terms for imported equipment” is very much similar to the OIT certification procedure and the decision on application is issued for each delivery separately can cause unnecessary bureaucratic barriers for foreign manufacturers”
There is no doubt however that the presence of leading foreign manufacturers in the Russian market establishes certain benchmarks for domestic producers, in terms of both technology innovations and price. The fact remains that the Russian actuator market has been dominated by one Russian manufacturer over the last 20 years. Very little product enhancement was witnessed during this time and key factors such as safety and reliability were compromised. With leading foreign manufacturers such as Auma establishing themselves in the market however, local producers were forced to up their game and indeed brand new design features have been witnessed recently. Ultimately, the end customers are main beneficiaries of competition such as this.
Regarding the price of nuclear products, it may well be that foreign competition is helping to keep the price under control. “Annual price increase for foreign-made products correlates with inflation rates in Eurozone. At the same time price increase for homemade products, taking into account the economic crisis, is much higher and indeed outstrips inflation,” says Shimanskiy.
Competition in this sector therefore is of the utmost importance. Power generated by the nuclear sector is a key priority for Russia and safety and reliability in this sector are paramount. Having said this, now more than ever it is important to to way up costs. The Nuclear industry is a challenging sector with exacting demands for automation products, including actuators. As a result, suppliers need to ensure that developments are aligned to industry regulations and indeed power plant’s requirements. However, in this sector more than any, experience and a good track record count for a lot.
