The world’s first floating NPP, Russia’s Akademik Lomonosov, has delivered its first billion kWh to the isolated Arctic network of the Chown-Bilibinsky energy station of Chukotka in Pevek since its inclusion in the network in December 2019.
Akademik Lomonosov began commercial operation in May 2020. The total power supplied to the coastal network of Pevek without consumption of thermal energy by the shore, is about 76 MWe, and 44 MWt. The population of Pevek is just over 4,000. However, the floating NPP (PATES – Plavuchaya Atomnaya TeploElektroStantsiya) can potentially provide electricity to a city with a population of up to 100,000. In 2025, the station will celebrate its first five-year anniversary.
The purpose of the PATES was to solve two key tasks. Firstly, it is a replacement of the outgoing capacities of the Bilibino NPP, which has been operating since 1974, as well as the Chown thermal power plant, which is already more than 70 years old. Secondly, it supplies energy to the main mining enterprises located on western Chukotka in the Chown-Bilibinsk energy complex – a major ore-metal cluster, including gold mining companies and projects related to the development of the Baim ore zone.
For the FNPP, last year was a landmark – the first fuel campaign in the history of the station was successfully completed,” said Natalya Tarasova, Deputy Director for Personnel Management. “In the Arctic, this is a challenge, and we dealt with it. This success I associate, first of all, with the effective planning of work and the coordinated work of all station personnel.”
PATES Acting Director Andrey Zaslavsky noted: “Five years of successful work of the PATES team in the Arctic and the Far North region gave Rosatom unique experience. This formed the basis of Rosatom’s new projects in the field of small nuclear energy. It laid the foundation for the development of hard-to-reach and isolated territories using low-power nuclear power plants (ASMM – Atomnoi Stantsii Maloi Moshnosti). At the moment, in addition to the PATES, Rosatom is also implementing projects for a new floating NPP based on 4 units on Chukotka at Cape Nagleynyn, as well as a ground-based ASMM with the latest RITM-200 reactor in Yakutia.”