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Rosatom 'plans new nuclear technology exports'

Friday, 11 June 2021

Rosatom will soon submit to the Russian government its plan to invest RUB506 billion (USD7 billion) in new nuclear technologies by 2030, according to Kommersant. Of this, RUB150 billion will be from the state budget. The plan, dubbed 'New Atomic Energy', was presented for assessment to the working group of the State Council on Energy. If approved, it would be included in the government's socio-economic development strategy for the next decade, the newspaper says.

Rosatom 'plans new nuclear technology exports' — Akademik Lomonosov was commissioned in May 2020 (Image: Rosenergoatom)

The plan aims to build four floating power units using RITM-200 reactors (55 MWe each) by the end of 2028 for the Baim Mining and Refining Plant in Chukotka. It aims to commission the first land-based nuclear power plant, using RITM-200N technology, by the end of 2030, for the Kyuchusskoye gold deposit in Yakutia. Also by the end of the decade, the plan expects to launch pilot units called Shelf M (up to 10 MWe) and Elena AM (400 kWe and 5 Gcal/h), in remote regions of the country. Rosatom hopes to conclude the first export contract for its small nuclear power plants at the end of 2026, and for six units by the end of 2030.

The only small nuclear power plant that has so far been commissioned in the world is Rosatom's 70 MWe floating unit Akademik Lomonosov.

The second focus of the plan is the 'Waste-free Atom' project for a closed nuclear fuel cycle and the construction of fast neutron reactors. The BREST-300 lead-cooled fast reactor is to start operations at the end of 2027, according to Kommersant. By the end of the decade, the design documentation for the BN-1200M with sodium coolant will be ready, it added.

The third is 'Pure Atom for the World', which concerns Roastom's plan to export nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants of non-Russian design. The first contract for this is expected to be signed next year. By the end of 2030, a portfolio of four contracts and the expansion of the supply base by 18 PWR units (TVS-Kvadrat fuel assemblies) is envisaged. According to the article, Rosatom aims for 24% of the global nuclear fuel supply market by 2030, up from 17% currently.

Rosatom already has a commercial contract for the supply of TVS-Kvadrat for the Ringhals nuclear power plant in Sweden, as well as a contract for the pilot commercial operation of fuel with an undisclosed nuclear power plant operator in the USA.

Rosatom declined to confirm the content of the Kommersant article.