Provided exclusively to PowerTec Russia Magazine by ROSATOM
In September 2011Yukiya Amano, the head of the IAEA estimated that the total new build market for the Nuclear power sector to be at 350 new reactors.
After the tragic events at Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant, questions were raised about the safety of Nuclear power and its long term viability. More than six months have passed however and although safety is more than ever at the forefront of our sector, the worse predictions have not come true. In fact, it is just the opposite – the majority of countries that have declared their intention to develop nuclear power have not abandoned their plans and indeed some countries, in particular Great Britain, have announced plans to build new NPP’s after the events in Japan.
ROSATOM is one of leading global players in the NPP construction market. The Russian state-run corporation has managed to become a clear world leader in the construction of nuclear power units overseas. Currently, 21 reactor construction projects are underway abroad at different stages of development, from a signed contract through pre-startup activities. These projects include plants in India, Bulgaria, Turkey, Armenia, Ukraine, Vietnam, China, Belarus and Bangladesh.
Growth in energy consumption and the need to cut carbon emissions in the energy sector has pushed many countries, including those new to Nuclear Power to have a positive outlook on the development of this sector. Over the last couple of years ROSATOM has signed nuclear construction agreements covering four new markets – Turkey, Vietnam, Belarus and Bangladesh.
Under an agreement signed in November 2011, two nuclear reactors with 1,000 MW installed capacity will be built on the Ruppur site in Bangladesh. Later on in the same month an agreement concerning the financing of NPP construction in Vietnam was also signed.
In December 2011 the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus ratified a Russia-Belarus intergovernmental agreement Which gives the Belarus Government export credit for construction of NPPs in the Republic of Belarus. The agreement was signed in Moscow in November 2011. The project is planned to start in early 2012.
Construction of the first Turkish NPP is also already underway. The site is located near the Mediterranean seaport of Mersin in the Akkuyu Region. The plan is to build four 1,200-megawatt VVER reactors to Russian AES-2006 specifications. This is the world’s first nuclear power plant to be built using the “Build-Own-Operate” principle. The Russia-Turkey intergovernmental agreement signed in 2010 contains commitments from the Turkish utility TETAS to buy a fixed amount of electricity planned to be produced by the plant at a fixed price (70% from Units 1&2 and 30% from Units 3&4) for a period of 15 years, starting on the date of commercial operation of each power unit. The Russian company will sell the reminder on the free electricity market, on its own or through a retail electricity supplier.
Following the tragedy at Fukushima-Daiichi, the competitiveness of Russian NPPs has actually increased. In May, stress tests were carried out in Russia, with the results submitted to the Russian regulator Rostechnadzor. As well as this, a team of international experts from the World Organization of Nuclear Operators (WANO) conducted peer reviews. Russian NPPs were tested for threats such as earthquake, flood, loss of power supply, loss of ultimate heat sink, terrorist acts, and severe accident management capability. The stress tests confirmed the full reliability and safety of Russian NPPs.
The Tianwan NPP in China has been recognized as the the worlds safest and most successful NPP, and using this as an example the Russian NPPs that are planned or under construction will meet all existing safety requirements as well as being able to withstand the extreme events such as those encountered at the Fukushima-Daiichi NPP. In addition, they can withstand a heavy aircraft crash, they have a passive heat removal system, which keeps the plant safe in a blackout situation, and a core melt trap.
In 2011 the first reactor of Iranian Bushehr NPP was connected to the grid and in early 2012 two reactors at the Kudankulam NPP will be commissioned in India.
ROSATOM Chairman Sergey Kirienko stated that the Russian nuclear corporation intends to win, at least, 20% of the world’s nuclear construction market over the coming 20 years. In fact, within two decades ROSATOM wants to build up to 80 new nuclear power units of Russian design, of which only 30 will fall within the domestic market.
