Ian Hore-Lacy
Director of Public Communications
World Nuclear Association
As well as the principal large power plants under construction in Russia, there are a number of other developments which are very interesting and perhaps in the longer term, rather significant. The best-known of these if the Floating Nuclear Power Plant.
Rosatom is planning to build seven or eight floating nuclear power plants by 2015. The first of them was to be constructed and then remain at Severodvinsk with intended completion in 2010, but plans changed. Each FNPP has two 35 MWet KLT-40S nuclear reactors. (If primarily for desalination this set-up is known as APVS-80.) The operating life is envisaged as 38 years: three 12-year campaigns with a year’s maintenance outage in between.
The keel of the first floating nuclear power plant, named Academician Lomonosov, was laid in April 2007 at Sevmash in Severodvinsk, but in August 2008 Rosatom cancelled the contract and transferred it to the Baltiyskiy Zavod shipyard at St Petersburg, which has experience in building nuclear icebreakers. After signing a new RUR 9.98 billion contract in February, new keel-laying took place in May 2009 and the two reactors were delivered from OKBM Afrikantov by August. The 21,500 tonne hull (144 metres long, 30 m wide) was launched at the end of June 2010.
The new site for its deployment is Vilyuchinsk, Kamchatka peninsula, to ensure sustainable electricity and heat supplies to the naval base there. Completion and towing to site is expected in 2012, and grid connection in 2013.
Three main companies contributed to the project: OKBM (development of design and technical follow-up of the manufacture and testing), Izhorskiye Zavody (manufacture of the reactor pressure vessel), and Nizhniy Novgorod Machine Engineering Plant (NMZ) (manufacture of component parts and reactor assembling).
The second plant of this size is planned for Pevek on the Chukotka peninsula in the Chaun district of the far northeast, near the small Bilibino nuclear power plant, and designed to replace both it and a 35 MWe thermal plant as a major component of the Chaun-Bilibino industrial hub. The third is for Chersky in Yakutia. In June 2010 a “roadmap” for deployment of up to eight further FNPPs was expected, on the occasion of launching the barge for the first, but it has not appeared. As of early 2009, four floating plants were designated for northern Yakutia in connection with the Elkon uranium mining project in southern Yakutia, and in 2007 an agreement was signed with the Sakha Republic (Yakutia region) to build one of them, using smaller ABV-6 reactors. Five were intended for use by Gazprom for offshore oil and gas field development and for operations on the Kola peninsula near Finland and the Yamal peninsula in central Siberia. There is also perceived to be considerable export potential for the FNPPs, on a fully-serviced basis. Electricity cost is expected to be much lower than from present alternatives in remote areas.
The larger end of the FNPP range will use a pair of 325 MWe VBER-300 reactors on a 49,000 tonne barge, and a smaller one could use a single RITM-200 reactor providing 55 MWe, this being a possible successor to the KLT-40. ATETs-80 and ATETs-200 are twin-reactor cogeneration units using KLT-40 and may be floating or land-based. The former produces 85 MWe plus 120,000 m3/day of potable water. The small ABV-6 reactor is 38 MW thermal and a pair mounted on a 97-metre barge is known as Volnolom floating NPP, producing 12-18 MWe plus 40,000 m3/day of potable water by reverse osmosis. Secondly there is nuclear propulsion for ships.
Nuclear propulsion has proven technically and economically essential in the Russian Arctic where operating conditions are beyond the capability of conventional icebreakers. The power levels required for breaking ice up to 3 metres thick, coupled with refuelling difficulties for other types of vessels, are significant factors. The nuclear fleet has increased Arctic navigation from 2 to 10 months per year, and in the Western Arctic, to year-round. Greater use of the icebreaker fleet is expected with developments on the Yamal Peninsula and further east.
The icebreaker Lenin was the world’s first nuclear-powered surface vessel (20,000 dwt) and remained in service for 30 years (1959-89), though new reactors were fitted in 1970.
It led to a series of larger icebreakers, the six 23,500 dwt Arktika-class, launched from 1975. These powerful vessels have two 171 MWt OK-900 reactors delivering 54 MW at the propellers and are used in deep Arctic waters. The Arktika was the first surface vessel to reach the North Pole, in 1977. The seventh and largest Arktika class icebreaker – 50 Years of Victory (50 Let Pobedy) entered service in 2007. It is 25,800 dwt, 160 m long and 20m wide, and is designed to break through ice up to 2.8 metres thick. Its performance in service has been impressive.
For use in shallow waters such as estuaries and rivers, two shallow-draught Taymyr-class icebreakers of 18,260 dwt with one reactor delivering 35 MW were built in Finland and then fitted with their nuclear steam supply system in Russia. They are built to conform with international safety standards for nuclear vessels and were launched from 1989.
A more powerful icebreaker of 110 MW net and 55,600 dwt is planned, with further dual-draught ones of 32,400 dwt and 60 MW power at propellers. The first of these third-generation icebreakers is expected to be finished in 2015 at a cost of RUB 17 billion.
In 1988 the NS Sevmorput was commissioned in Russia, mainly to serve northern Siberian ports. It is a 61,900 tonne 260 m long lash-carrier (taking lighters to ports with shallow water) and container ship with ice-breaking bow. It is powered by the same KLT-40 reactor as used in larger icebreakers, delivering 32.5 propeller MW from the 135 MWt reactor and it needed refuelling only once to 2003.
Russian experience with nuclear powered Arctic ships totals about 300 reactor-years in 2009. In 2008 the Arctic fleet was transferred from the Murmansk Shipping Company under the Ministry of Transport to Atomflot, under Rosatom.
Russian experience is very relevant to the rest of the world. With increasing concern about greenhouse gas emissions and the excellent safety record of nuclear powered (mostly naval) ships, there is renewed interest in marine nuclear propulsion. The head of the large Chinese shipping company Cosco suggested in 2009 that container ships should be powered by nuclear reactors in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. He said that Cosco is in talks with China’s nuclear authority to develop nuclear-powered freight vessels.
In 2010 Babcock International’s marine division completed a study on developing a nuclear-powered LNG tanker. The study indicated that particular routes and cargoes lent themselves well to the nuclear propulsion option, and that technological advances in reactor design and manufacture had made the option more appealing.
In November 2010 the British Maritime classification society Lloyd’s Register embarked upon a two-year study with US-based Hyperion Power Generation, British vessel designer BMT Group, and Greek ship operator Enterprises Shipping and Trading SA “to investigate the practical maritime applications for small modular reactors. The research is intended to produce a concept tanker-ship design”, certified in as many countries as possible. Lloyds expects to “see nuclear ships on specific trade routes sooner than many people currently anticipate.”
Nuclear power in shipping seems most immediately promising for large bulk carriers that go back and forth constantly on few routes between dedicated ports – eg China to South America and NW Australia. They could be powered by a reactor delivering 100 MW thrust. Cruise liners, which have demand curves like a small town are another obvious possibility. A 70 MWe unit could give base-load and charge batteries, with a smaller diesel unit supplying the peaks.
Returning to Russia, thirdly is the pending link between aluminium smelting and nuclear power.
In 2006 the major aluminium producer SUAL (which in March 2007 became part of RUSAL) signed an agreement with Rosatom to support investment in new nuclear capacity at Kola, to power expanded aluminium smelting there from 2013. Four units totalling 1000 MWe were envisaged for Kola stage 2 underpinned by a 25-year contract with SUAL, but economic feasibility is in doubt and the project appears to have been dropped and replaced by two others.
Since 2007 Rosatom and RUSAL, now the world’s largest aluminium and alumina producer, have been undertaking a feasibility study on a nuclear power generation and aluminium smelter at Primorye in Russia’s far east. This proposal is taking shape as a US$ 10 billion project involving four 1000 MWe reactors and a 600,000 t/yr smelter with Atomstroyexport having a controlling share in the nuclear side. The smelter would require about one third of the output from 4 GWe, and electricity exports to China and North and South Korea are envisaged.
In October 2007 an $8 billion project was announced for the world’s biggest aluminium smelter at Balakovo in the Saratov region, complete with two new nuclear reactors to power it. The 1.05 million tonne per year aluminium smelter is to be built by RUSAL and would require about 15 billion kWh/yr. The initial plan was for the existing Balakovo nuclear power plant of four 950 MWe reactors to be expanded with two more – the smelter would require a little over one third of the output of the expanded power plant. However, in February 2010 it was reported that RUSAL proposed to build its own 2000 MWe nuclear power station, Balakovo AES2, with construction to start in 2011. The overall budget for the energy and metals complex was estimated by the Minister of Investment in the Saratov District to be about $12 billion. Land has been allotted for the project and design has commenced. Aluminium smelting is energy-intensive and requires reliable low-cost electricity to be competitive. Increasingly it is also carbon-constrained – this smelter will emit about 1.7 million tonnes of CO2 per year just from anode consumption.
RUSAL has announced an agreement with the regional government which will become effective when the nuclear plant expansion is approved by Rosatom or an alternative is agreed. Balakovo units 5 & 6 have been listed as prospective for some time but were dropped off the 2007-08 Rosatom plan for completing 26 new power reactors by 2020 as they were low priority for UES grid supply. Balakovo is on the Volga River 800 km SE of Moscow.
Finally is the fast reactor development program to 2020 Rosatom put forward two fast reactor implementation options for government decision in relation to the Advanced Nuclear Technologies Federal Program 2010-2020. The first focused on a lead-cooled fast reactor such as BREST with its fuel cycle, and assumed mobilization of all available resources on this project with a total funding of about RUR 140 billion (about $3.1 billion).
The second scenario assumed parallel development of fast reactors with lead, sodium and lead-bismuth coolants and their associated fuel cycles. It would cost about RUR 165 billion ($4.7 billion). The second multi-track option was favoured, since it involved lower risks than the first. It would result in technical designs of the Generation IV reactor and associated closed fuel cycles technologies by 2014, and a technological basis of the future innovative nuclear energy system featuring the Generation IV reactors working in closed fuel cycles by 2020. A detailed design would be developed for a multi-purpose fast neutron research reactor (MBIR) by 2014 also. This second option was designed to attract more funds apart from the federal budget allocation, was favoured by Rosatom, and was accepted.
In January 2010 the government approved the federal target program (FTP) “New-generation nuclear energy technologies for the period 2010-2015 and up to 2020” designed to bring a new technology platform for the nuclear power industry based on fast neutron reactors. It anticipated RUR 110 billion to 2020 out of the federal budget, including RUR 60 billion for fast reactors, and subsequent announcements started to allocate funds among three types: BREST, SVBR and continuing R&D on sodium cooled types. The FTP implementation will enable commercializing new fast neutron reactors for Russia to build over 2020-2030. Rosatom’s long-term strategy up to 2050 involves moving to inherently safe nuclear plants using fast reactors with a closed fuel cycle and mixed oxide (MOX) fuel.
The BREST (Bystry Reaktor so Svintsovym Teplonositelem) lead-cooled fast reactor is an innovation, from NIKIET, with the first unit being proposed for Beloyarsk-5. This will be a new-generation fast reactor which probably dispenses with the fertile blanket around the core and supersedes the BN-600/800 design, to give enhanced proliferation resistance. In February 2010 a government decree approved RUR 40 billion (US$ 1.3 billion) funding for an initial 300 MWe BREST unit at Beloyarsk over 2016-20, though it appears that only RUR 15.555 billion would come from the federal budget.
The pilot demonstration 100 MWe SVBR-100 unit is to be built in the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering (FEI or IPPE) at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (RIAR or NIIAR) in Dimitrovgrad by AKME-Engineering by 2020. RUR 13.23 billion was allocated for this in February 2010, including RUR 3.75 billion from the federal budget. SVBR-75/100 is a modular lead-bismuth cooled fast neutron reactor concept from OKB Gidropress in Podolsk. It is based on naval technology, and is designed to meet regional needs in Russia and abroad. It is proposed as a replacement for Novovoronezh 3&4 (in the present reactor halls), and for Kozloduy in Bulgaria. It is described by Gidropress as a multi-function reactor.
MBIR will be a multi-loop research reactor capable of testing lead, lead-bismuth and gas coolants as well as sodium, and running on MOX fuel. RIAR intends to set up an on-site closed fuel cycle for it, using pyrochemical reprocessing it has developed at pilot scale. In September 2010 Rosatom said that the MBIR program at the RIAR in Dimitrovgrad would be open to foreign collaboration, in connection with the IAEA INPRO program. The 150 MWt MBIR unit was expected to be built by 2017.
Starting 2020-25 it is envisaged that fast neutron reactors will play an increasing role in Russia, though these will probably be new designs such as BREST with a single core and no blanket assembly for plutonium production. An optimistic scenario has expansion to 90 GWe nuclear capacity by 2050.
The above projects are additional to the mainstream BN-800 development, the first one of which is due to be completed in 2014 as a successor to the very successful BN-600 which has operated for 30 years. Two of the BN-800s have been sold to China, and are due to start construction in 2013, at Sanming, Fujian province, with the first to be in operation in 2018.
